After Math -Rise 2-
by SLITH
Summary: Sequel to After Math -Rise- I'll rename this story properly after. Set after Sofia is gone, Lara decides to hunt down dangerous artifact and find it before the wrong people do. Her mind is on Sofia and the challenges that lie ahead. LaraxSofia (Lofia).
1. Poisoned Touch

Lying in her bed, Lara tosses and turns, rolling in the sheets, knocking them off of her and onto the floor. Beaded sweat in her brow and in her hairline as she whimpers and clutches at the fitted bed sheet.

 _Sofia is running through her village, squeezing between the mass of people running in fear, many of the buildings are on fire, gun shots ring out and she pushes to reach a tower. Looking up Sofia grabs a vine and hulls herself up, scaling the wall, there are dark marks on her cheeks and forehead from the fire. Hands are sore and she grunts as she makes her way to the top._

 _Screaming from below can be heard, she rushes to this old cranking phone and asks for Lara, "Lara! Trinity is back! I need you!" an explosion goes off behind her and envelopes Sofia._

Sitting up in her bed Lara gasps, her right hand on her chest as she looks around frantically, she feels her heart beating wildly and her light grey shirt is soaked in cold sweat. After a few minutes Lara takes some deep breaths to calm herself and look at the mess of the sheets, turning to the right side of her bed she gets up and walks to her desk.

A stack of papers and books lie there, end tables, the floor and chairs are flooded with books and papers. The printer has a couple of pages resting in the tray, she almost picks up the stack on her desk chair, but she walks to the small bathroom that is connected to her room. Small, a toilet, shower stall and sink, nothing special about it compared to the grand one where she and Sofia had some fun in the jocose.

Turning on the tap, Lara puts her hands together in the shape of a bowl to gather the water up and splashes her face. She does it again before turning the water off and placing her hands on the rim of the sink, lifting her head she looks at herself in the mirror.

"Sofia is fine… Trinity has no reason to go back there," she tells herself before grabbing her face towel and dabbing her face dry with it. _The archeologists left Sofia's home a week and a half ago, the documentary crew left a week ago_ Lara reminds herself, but she still feels a pang of worry. _What if Trinity doesn't believe all I've said and all that was shown to the world?_ She groans and runs her fingers through her hair as she steps through the door and picks up the recent documents she'd found before going to bed.

Lara forced herself to go to bed while it printed, forced herself to take a break, but it seems even her dreams won't let her take long breaks anymore. She sits down in her desk chair to start re-reading the articles she'd found, wanting to refresh her memory.

Her bedroom door opens, she doesn't bother to look up as she knows who it is, "you had the dream again, didn't you?" Liam asks as he walks to her and places a hand onto the back of her chair.

Smirking to herself, "what gave you that idea?" and she listens to him give a light chuckle.

"Watching you toss and turn in your bed for the fourth night in a row," Liam answers and he moves around her so his back is to the desk and he leans against it. "Sofia is fine, you spoke to her on the phone yesterday and the day before and the day before that."

Setting down the first page Lara continues to read the second page, "I know, I just wish I knew what it meant… why am I seeing her village being attacked by Trinity?"

He studies her for a few seconds, folding his arms across his chest, "you want to be with her, that's obvious. But your heart is in your next adventure… what you have in your hands," he answers and waits for her to look up at him. "Jonah is worried too."

She tilts her head as she looks up at him, "yeah, he's also worried you're a peeping tom with your security cameras in my bedroom."

Liam smirks at that, "I promise I never look, and I only have them in here because you have been abducted from your own bed by Frutana Corp. I don't blame him and I enjoy teasing him as to what I may be watching," he gives off a playful smirk and Lara lightly bats his left thigh with the second document. "I know you're not going back to bed, so… tell me what all you have found and what it is you are investigating."

Lara sits back in her chair and closes her eyes to collect her thoughts, she's read over a dozen articles, but only some lead her to where she feels the evidence lies. Opening her eyes she looks him in the eye, "the other set of wings," his eye brows raise at the mention, "reason being, I don't want someone else to get their hands on it. I know that will most likely push the people I don't want to find it into wanting to find it, but I need to take that chance."

Giving a sigh, Liam rests his hands onto his hips, "okay, pitch your evidence."

Leaning forward, "there have been several accounts on the black wings, but there is almost no description as to what it looks like, just what it does. For instance, in Egypt there was a yin and yang, they shaped them in the form of wings to be as angels, or gods, but they were kept hidden so well that no one knew there they were. Now and then a Pharaoh would become deathly sick and a stranger would come along with the white crystal wings and he would be better. Because the Pharaoh was desperate for any cure they were trying anything and everything that his people brought forward and so the stranger vanished," she holds her hands out, "I know, it sounds farfetched, but later on there has been accounts of the black wings."

Lara picks up a book from nearby and shows him the images, "there is a point with curves on one side here being dipped into water, and it says there that there is believed to be an object with a great curse upon it. That what it touches it either makes incredibly sick or is killed, and that it has been used in water supplies for villages, cities and therefore decimated populations. It has been known to strike in different places throughout time, but never a clear image, Rome, England, the rocky mountains, France… so many places. I have found evidence," she looks around; standing up to walk over to an end table she hurries back to show him another document.

"The Black Plague, everyone knows about it, but what if these wings were a part of it? Or what if someone's city was being plagued by the Black Plague and they used the black wings to make it worse or make it travel faster?" Lara asks excitedly and Liam gives small nods. Everything can be pointed to them, but in his mind there isn't enough substantial proof. What she has is speculation.

"What about the Angel's Hand of Light?" Liam enquires, he knows she has looked into it as well and Lara goes to a stack of books on another chair, he moves away from the desk to follow her as she sifts through them she pulls the right one out and shows him another page.

"Similar to the Divine Source I'll admit, but there have been a lot of accounts, mostly religious ones of masses of people coming under illness and someone comes along with the wings and heals them. Everything is taken as a myth with it really or as someone with a healing touch," Lara then hurries over to a book case that is usually locked; she opens it and pulls out a very old book. "This is an original book; possibly the only one in existence and my father got it years ago. Again with the myths and legends on secrets to immortality, I gave it a skim once but I didn't think anything of it," she stands before Liam and holds the book open to him to a certain page.

His eyes widen at the image of both sets of wings back to back, " _Where there can be great wealth, there can also be devastation_. _The two should be kept from one another as together they make an imbalance, the world needs both, the world is not perfect and cannot be. Life will be rotated at all times, just as the Wings have been and will continue to be. The wings of Light to be used seldom, lest the people grow dependant and then greed will devastate. The wings of Dark to be used seldom, lest the people in power shall decimate bloodlines. Power trembles for control, for control life must be willing to accept nature and what is out of one's control. These wings of light and dark are equally powerful and equally destructive._ "

"Wow… that is intense… this is our one real shred of evidence that they exist. And they've been getting used throughout time, but is it really a good idea to be searching for the Dark wings when we have the wings of Light?" Liam asks and Lara sighs.

Rubbing her forehead, her exhaustion catching up from the four nights of awful sleep, "if I know about this, if I know about the wings of Light then someone else does to," she looks at Liam. "I'm certain that Fernando must have reached out to others asking about them in his quest for knowledge and probably came to the same conclusion." A serious and confident look in her tired eyes, "I need to find it first before it lands in the wrong hands."

Nodding in agreement, and planting his hands onto his hips, "where do we start?" Liam asks and Lara smiles sleepily at him as she goes back to what she'd just printed off before she went to bed.

"The last shred of evidence as to where it was reported being used," Lara walks back to her desk and picks up the two sheets of paper. "We follow the cookie trail."

* * *

Groaning, Lara wakes up on her right side, facing her bedroom door to hearing an argument in the hallway between Jonah and Liam. She rubs at her eyes and looks at her bedside clock, it's 10:15 a.m. _I am not a late sleeper… must have been finally catching up on my rest_ she figures and sits up. Yawning she pulls off her pair of pants from yesterday, she was too tired to get changed and now feels the need to be refreshed.

"I'll fund it!" comes a familiar voice, Roger and Lara grabs a fresh pair of dark brown, skin tight cargo pants. Slipping out of her light grey shirt she pulls on a burgundy, hooded shirt that is form fitting with a pouch for both hands.

"That's not the point!" Jonah says and Lara rolls her eyes and she steps into the bathroom, grabbing her brush she detangles and smoothes out her dark brown locks before stepping out of her room.

"I'll go with her Jonah, she'll be safe," Liam says as Lara steps out and all three guys turn to her.

"You know I haven't been sleeping great and so you have this argument outside my bedroom door?" Lara asks inquisitively for the three to shift around on their feet. "So what is going on?"

"Liam told me about what you showed him last night, about the Dark Wings but I don't think it is a good idea to hunt for them when an ancient book says to keep both sets of wings apart. Here you are with one set and you want to get the other set, that sounds too dangerous," Jonah answers, obviously not happy with the new adventure she's planning.

Lara puts her hands into her pocket calmly, "every adventure I've been on has had its dangerous moments, and this one is no different than Yamati, the Divine Source or King Midas's Hand. In this case a lot of lives are at stake if the wrong people find out about it and find it." She watches Jonah purse his lips, and clench his jaw.

"I have offered to fund the expedition, I know you still need to hunt down people for information on it, but I'll fund it all," Roger adds and puts his hands into his pockets. "My father will never believe a word of it, but knowing how many lives are at stake, I'll put my whole bank account into it to save lives."

Liam watches Jonah, he won't let Lara go it alone and he has a feeling that Jonah won't either. At the same time he wonders if Lara really needs the both of them with her, he knows she is capable and all three guys will do anything for her. _Roger had his childhood with her, Jonah went with her on their first adventure and because of that she has his loyalty. I tortured her for information and stopped when I knew it was futile, and then I saved her and Sofia's lives, she trusts me enough to protect her in her house._

"I say one of us should go with Lara," Liam pipes up and all three look at him, but he keeps his focus entirely on Lara, "I know you are more than capable of handling yourself. But, given what people have done to stop you in the past from finding out truths, I say Jonah or I should go with you."

Jonah clenches his fists tightly, he looks at Lara and then at Liam who finally glances at him and gives him the slightest nod. Looking back at Lara, "I'll go with you, but if we won't find anything within the first few clues as to its whereabouts. I need you to then promise me that you'll no longer pursue it." He would give her that much, he knows that if he limits her to one clue she won't go for it, so he knows he has to bend a little otherwise she could go behind his back and get herself hurt.

She gives him a firm nod, "alright, I'll make the arrangements and get my stuff packed together," she looks at Roger, "you don't need to fund us this time though. I do have money-"

"If you're in an emergency situation and you need a lot of cash, then you can use your money. But for now I urge you to use my donations of whatever you need for the time being. You don't know how much people will scalp you for your money knowing your name Lara," Roger inputs and Lara smiles a little.

Lara finds it cute how much they're each looking out for her, but they also don't see her as being a young, fragile, naïve woman anymore. From the looks in their eyes they see her as being a competent, resourceful, and strategic young woman that is the only woman in the group now. Because of this they are protective over her, and she has no idea how to show them how much she appreciates it. "Okay, but first things first, breakfast," at this they all give a small smile.

They all go to the kitchen where Winston is with his apron on, "bacon, scrambled eggs, toast with strawberry jam and… orange juice?" he glances over his shoulder at her.

Grinning as she takes a seat at the counter shaped like a great big C but on the outside where the stools are facing into the grand cooking area. "That sounds perfect; I'll be going out later with Jonah to search for the Wings of Dark."

The others pile in and Winston glances at them, "are you all hungry as well?" he asks as he goes to the fridge to pull out the bacon and eggs.

Patting his stomach, Jonah shakes his head, "I'll wait for lunch, I'm alright."

The other two shake their heads as Lara rests her arms on the counter, never much of lady. "The last clue that I read about was possibly someplace in the desert, I don't recall the name off the top of my head."

Liam blinks, "the desert? What was it doing all the way out there? Wiping out a village or a city?"

Lara's eye brows jump up briefly and she purses her lips, she doesn't want to confirm or deny it as in truth, she doesn't know. All that can be done is to speculate. "The perfect lethal weapon… by tomorrow morning or afternoon I suspect we'll know."

Winston sets the bacon into a frying pan and is about to put the eggs into a separate one, Lara smiles, "you can use the same pan, I don't mind," and he smirks.

"Very well, Lady Croft," Winston says and puts the extra frying pan away and cracks two eggs open, three pieces of bacon cooking next to them. While they cook Roger gets a call on his cell phone, Liam goes to his security room he has established in the house and Jonah takes a seat next to her. He watches her and watches Winston cook up her breakfast.

Her mind isn't in the present however, it is back on Sofia, staring off into space she keeps wondering about the nightmare she's been having. _Why would anyone go for Sofia's village? I worry that she is in danger and I can't do anything about it… I know she was able to handle herself before she met me and I'm sure she can when I'm not there. It's the unknown I can't stand_ she rubs the bridge of her nose and then rests her head on the counter.

Frowning, Jonah places his hand onto her back, "you had the nightmare again," he says it as a fact, not a question and Lara nods.

"Her generation has done quite well and so have the ones before her Lady Croft; you do not need to worry. Lady Sofia will be fine and you've called her almost every day to be sure that nothing at all has happened," Winston adds as he puts two slices of bread into the toaster. "You should give her a call when you're done with your meal."

Lara lifts her head and nods a little, "I was planning on it," she looks up at him and then glances at Jonah as he rubs her back. She props her head up on her left hand to look at him. "I couldn't have asked her to stay."

"No, but you could have gone with her," Jonah comments in honesty, he's seen how she is in the wild; he knows she can handle herself. She can hunt, she can hide, and she is able to help those who already live there to improve their living situation.

Sighing, "It's not that easy, we both have different lives and I still want to hunt for these relics, these artifacts. I can't go and ask her to leave her village for me; my world is too different from hers," she looks at Jonah and watches him nod solemnly.

"Well think on it, you can talk to her about it on the phone after you've eaten. Okay?" Jonah says as Winston brings over her plate of bacon, eggs and toast, then her jam and orange juice.

"He is right you know, when you were plugged away into your research and studies we spoke often about her and you," Winston comments and Lara blinks in surprise.

All of those hours in front of a computer, on the phone, she hadn't thought about it like that. Sofia had to find a lot of time to occupy her own time in the house or out in the yard while she did her work. "You did?" Lara asks as she picks up a piece of bacon and takes a bite, her taste buds sparking at the flavour and she smiles as she chews. Only eating bacon as a treat.

"Yes, she admires and respects you, ever since you saved her during the first attack on the village and helped free her trapped villagers. She told you that she was happy to have you as an ally if I remember correctly. Watching you from afar with the catapult as you took down Trinity's men, then used her help to take down Konstantin's helicopter… all the way to watching you work very hard with contacts and other people to help transition those from her village that were interested in expanding beyond their own world. Your dedication Lady Croft. She never wanted to take you from your work as it was because of your work that she met you, at the same time she missed her home, her duties. You both live different lives but she and I believed that one day," his eyes grow soft, "if you truly want to be together, it'll work out."

Lara blushes at his words, touched really as she hadn't expected that and finishes her eggs and starts on her toast. Spreading strawberry jam on the lightly buttered toast, taking a long drink of orange juice before her mind goes back to the Wings of Light.

"I know that look…" Jonah comments and Lara smiles a little before going back to her thoughts, "what are you planning?"

Taking a bite of toast, chewing and swallowing, "we cannot keep the Wings of Light here," Lara says and Jonah looks at her quizzically. "If Trinity or Frutana Corp comes here for me, they could search and find it, I can't risk them finding it in an obvious location. I need to store it where no one would look for it," she smiles and takes a bigger bite and Jonah turns his stool to face her.

"All ordinary possibilities are out the window, a storage facility, basement, digging up a bomb shelter in your back yard. Those are all normal ideas, but you and it are far from normal… so what're you thinking?" Jonah asks and Lara smiles at him as she finishes off her first piece of toast and then takes a few chugs of her orange juice.

"I've got the perfect plan for it… but," she bites her bottom lip and finishes off her eggs, "I cannot tell you."

Looking taken aback Jonah stares at her, "do you not trust me?" he asks suddenly feeling like a stranger in front of her, and even after everything they've been through.

Turning to face him, Lara finishes her toast and orange juice, "it's not that I don't trust you Jonah, I am protecting you. If bad people come for it, then it'll be safer with just me knowing where it is, I don't want you possibly tortured for information on it."

He takes a deep breath and rubs the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed, "I hope you know what you're doing Lara, this isn't a game we're playing here," he opens his eyes when Lara takes his free hand into her own.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," Lara promises and stands up to walk to Liam's security room where he's reading a book. Standing in the doorframe, Lara leans against it and glances at the monitors, several large screens with 4 camera views on each, one wall filled with computer screens, one standard keyboard and another funky one. A filing cabinet to her left all with the locks done up and a cooler sitting on top of a mini fridge on her right, she clears her throat for Liam to glance up. "Your hard at work," she teases and he smirks.

"Well I don't need to eaves drop on your conversation with Winston or Jonah, I know when to give you privacy," he sets the book down and folds his hands together. "What can I do for you?"

Lara glances up at the monitors, "I want all of the surveillance turned off for the rest of today," she looks at him, "reason being, if Trinity or Frutana Corp find out what I'm up to and come here for answers they'll be able to use the recordings to find out what I'm about to do. I can't risk it."

Nodding Liam stands up and goes to the funky control pad, flipping every switch for a red light to appear above every single one and every camera screen goes black on the monitor. Sitting back down he looks at her, "you have complete privacy," he smiles at her and stands up, "I'll go and take a look over the grounds of the property then."

With that Lara steps aside to let him walk past her and down the hallway, she goes in the opposite direction to the library where she has her special phone for contacting Sofia set up. Taking a deep breath Lara takes a seat next to the phone and picks it up; she set Sofia up with a solar powered phone for her own place up in the mountains.

Dialing her number Lara waits and after three rings hears the other line pick up, "hello sexy," Sofia answers and gets Lara blushing instantly.

"Hello to you too, I take it all is going good over there still?" Lara asks and she can just picture Sofia frowning.

"You had the nightmare again, didn't you?" Sofia asks in return and Lara gives a small sigh. "Everything is fine here Lara, I have patrols still going around even to where I first met you. Trinity and Frutana Corp have no reason to come here, now… I know you've got something going on."

Giggling Lara sits back in her chair, "what makes you think that?"

"Because I know you Lara, you have a hard time sitting still, so what's the big scoop?" Sofia answers and Lara closes her eyes contentedly.

"I'm going to go after the Wings of Darkness, after I hang up the phone I'll be making the arrangements to leave and go after the first clue. I know I'm not going to find it right away so I have some ground work to do," Lara answers and bites her bottom lip, "what would you say to my stopping by for a visit before I start?"

"Really? That would be great!" Sofia gets excited on her end and Lara giggles. "When will you be here?"

Looking at the clock, "hmmm tomorrow morning I expect, it may be off our route that I need to take, but I really, really need to see you," she said in honesty.

She can hear Sofia giving a content sigh, "I'll be counting the hours, because the minutes will take too long."

To Be Continued…

* * *

What did you think? Have you guessed what Lara is going to do? Things will be slow at first but I promise they'll pick up. Please review! The more feedback I get the more fuel I get to write.


	2. Planning Ahead

Looking out her large window, Lara beams at the sight below, it's been a couple of months since she was here. There are the usual tents up, the buildings have been rebuilt, and everything else looks the way she remembers it. This time there are kids playing around the buildings and there is a designated landing patch of grass next to the waterfall, a group of people are waiting there, she can't make out the faces yet but she can recognize the red hair of Sofia over everyone else.

As she gets closer she can see Jackie, Martha, Brock but none of the other faces are familiar. This doesn't surprise her as it's not as if she got to meet everyone. Feeling the helicopter hum as is descends to the landing spot, Lara watches anxiously as the tree branches nearby blow away and the grass is flattened with the force of the chopper blades.

Finally she feels the small bump of the helicopter touching down, almost like being in an elevator, the feeling of slightly lifting just after touching down. Looking down at the leather satchel between her legs, she looks up at Jonah whose been reading during the ride smiles at her, he's been looking forward to coming back as well. He hadn't been with the village for nearly as long as she had and to see the inhabitants again was a real treat. No technology, no cell phone towers, to be completely off the grid was something he actually enjoyed.

She reaches down and unbuckles her three point harness before opening the side door and in the corner of her eye watching Jonah unbuckle his own harness. Lara slings the strap for the harness up and over her head, opening the door she smiles as the blades slow down gradually and she smiles at the sight of Sofia. Instantly smelling the mountain air, the trees, water, some fish being cooked in the distance and wood burning.

Stepping down she crouches on instinct and walks to the group of people awaiting their arrival, "Good morning!" Lara greets and is enveloped in a hug by Sofia right away, smelling cedar and oak in her hair with a hint of smoke from what's being cooked no doubt. Just like camping, Lara hugs her tightly in return and takes in the feel of her body pressed into her own. The warmth and the leather as well as her braided locks of hair that tickle her face.

"I've missed you Lara," Sofia whispers and finally pulls away to look at her at arm's length and Jonah walks up from behind smiling at her.

"It's good to see you're in good health," Jonah comments, referring to Lara's nightmares and Sofia smiles back at him.

"You as well, we have fish being cooked in the tent area just up there," Sofia says and can feel Brock and Martha staring at the back of her head, Jackie is standing there smiling at the two girls.

"How long will you be staying for?" Martha asks and Jonah puts on a smile, he remembers hearing about how she and a few others were at the meeting.

"Not long, half an hour tops, we've got to get back to the air field," Jonah answers and watches as Brock's upper lip twitches.

Folding her arms across her chest, Martha looks at Lara disapprovingly, "I certainly hope you won't be giving a speech on taking away more of our villagers to join your world," she comments and Sofia feels the hairs on her back of her neck raise.

Had Sofia known she'd be so snooty, she wouldn't have agreed to have her there for the greeting; she feels her face get hot with anger but Lara steps towards Martha and Brock. "No, I actually came to see Sofia because I missed her and wanted to see her before I go off on my next adventure. Thank you for allowing me to come and visit for a short time," she smiles and looks at Jackie who is beaming at her. "It's wonderful to see you Jackie; I hope all went well with the documentary crew and other archaeologists."

Clasping her hands together, Jackie nods, "it did, and it was so nice to have eager ears listening to the old tales I could recite. It's good to see you again," she smiles and steps aside knowing that Lara must have some important business with Sofia.

Lara looks back at Sofia and they head off to the Observatory, once they're inside Sofia closes the doors behind her and once she turns back to Lara she kisses her. Lara kisses her back in return, Sofia's hands moving up to cup Lara's cheeks and enjoy the feel of her soft, smooth skin, while she feels Lara's right hand on the back of her neck cradling it gently.

Pulling away from her lips slowly, Sofia opens her eyes to stare into Lara's eyes, "you have no idea how much I have missed waking up next to you and watching you sleep soundly… and knowing you've been having these nightmares about me doesn't help. I want to be able to comfort you."

Smiling in return, Lara stares into her eyes, "seeing you and everyone else safe and sound is all I need. Maybe now the nightmares will end, the one thing they managed to do was make me miss you more," she leans in and kisses her once more for a few seconds before pulling away. Her face changing a little to being on a serious note. "If you aren't comfortable with what I'm about to ask you to do, say the word."

Reaching for the satchel, Sofia opens it and pulls the beautiful crystal wings out, "the Wings of Light," she almost whispers it, enchanted by it every time she sees them it seems. She looks back at Lara, "I have no issues with hiding your artifact here, you're sure no one else but you and I know it's come here for safe keeping?"

Nodding and walking towards the center of the Observatory, "yes, I had Liam turn off all of the surveillance, if someone sees the cameras and tries to find footage on what I'm up to they'll come up empty handed. Where do you want to put it?" She looks around the large room and places her index and thumb onto her chin as her left hand goes onto her hip in thought.

Watching Lara, Sofia keeps her mouth shut for a moment on a question she's had floating in her mind for a couple of weeks now. She shakes her head and looks around and straight up to the center where there is an opening, the circle used to let light in before on the Atlas. "What about up there? Like angel wings they'll have the sunlight flood through them, they'll look like a pretty decoration and no one will be the wiser," she smirks and watches Lara's eyes travel up.

Immediately Lara's eyes travel around the room and she can tell she's working out the puzzle of how to get it up there and how to secure it. Going into her satchel she rummages in it, "I wasn't sure what the situation would be like so I brought a few things… but I think this should work," she pulls out fishing line, "it's 60LB fishing line, but ultra thin, you'll only be able to see it if you're looking really hard," she looks at Sofia whose now quite intrigued about the concept.

"Okay… I take it you'll use the chains to climb up?" Sofia offers and Lara nods.

"Exactly," Lara answers and Sofia puts the artifact back into the satchel while Lara takes the closest set of chain to the center and climbs. "I must say, it is not as easy as it looks," she comments as her boots now and then slip as her feet are trying to give her body the support she needs to keep climbing.

Grinning to herself slyly, Sofia watches from below her, "oh I've got a great view from down here," she says coyly and Lara feels her cheeks blush crimson, just past the half way mark.

"That isn't helping!" Lara calls down and finds her body swinging to the inside, looking up at her destination, her hands getting a little sweaty but she knows she's had it worse. "Just one more bit, just a little further," she says to herself as she climbs the last couple of feet to the top. Looking around herself she moves her right foot around the chain a few times to secure herself as best she can before taking out the fishing wire.

The question keeps nagging at Sofia, as she watches Lara start to reach up to the centre, some tiny iron brackets there used to helping to hold the golden ring to the ceiling, Lara loops the line around each one and extends herself to the max to grip the ring and dangle from it. Planting her hands around the curve her legs swing around as she gets to a second chain and uses the soles of her boots to give herself stability again and loop another bit of fishing line.

"What are your thoughts on Liam?" Sofia calls up, this confuses Lara a bit as she glances down, after zip lining and climbing up high in trees so much, being really high up isn't an issue for her.

"What do you mean?" Lara asks, and then again gets herself to dangle from the ring above her and manoeuvres herself to the next chain, doing the same action with her feet for stability.

She watches her and can't deny, she likes watching Lara work, moving like a monkey, "what do you think of him?" Sofia asks as she watches Lara loop the third bit of fishing line.

"He's a nice guy, after he saved my life I feel he has changed from what he once was. I respect him and I can trust him, since then he's never done anything to prove otherwise," Lara answers and is now on the fourth length of chain, looping the fishing line and looking at her handiwork. Wanting to be sure it'll be good and secure she wraps the line a couple more times and then moves herself to the second chain length to wrap the line around a couple of times there.

Tapping her index finger to her chin in thought, she is still curious and decides to delve deeper, "you don't think he's cute? You told me every time you've woken up from your nightmares he's come into your room to talk you through it. He sounds devoted," Sofia adds and Lara pauses at the first chain length, having looped the fishing line around the hook and looks at the third one.

She thinks about what Sofia is saying, she hadn't actually thought about it in all honesty, every night her mind was on the Wings of Darkness and on Sofia. Lara hadn't thought about Liam being there for her, "yes… he's cute," Lara says, a little uncertain as to where Sofia is going with this. "I don't know about devoted… he's just doing his job," Lara says and goes to the center ring again to get to the third one and loop the fishing line around it.

Sofia starts to walk around on the bottom, watching Lara the whole time as she wants to be able to catch her if she slips and falls without warning. "Just doing his job? I dono Lara, I think he has a thing for you, when I last saw you he was watching you, I know he respects you and I and he'd never overstep. But I think that he cares for you more than he's letting on, yes he's doing his job but it is more than that."

Lara looks down at Sofia as she pulls out the artifact and rests it carefully on the crisscrossed fishing line, "what are you saying? He has a crush on me but won't act on it because I'm his boss and it would be overstepping his position?" she asks and reaches out to start wrapping the fishing line in a figure 8 around the Wings of Light.

Folding her arms across her chest, smirking a little as she knows how Lara gets with her work, "Lara have you been so occupied with your current mission for the Wings of Darkness and worrying over me that you haven't seen the signs? Or is it only me?" Sofia enquires and Lara grabs a hold of the golden ring to move around to get to the other side and starts to wrap it around the top, then the bottom, then the top and then the bottom again of the artifact.

Wanting to be sure no wind or possible tremors are going to knock it down by accident, swinging herself to the first chain she inspects her work before sliding down to the bottom and wiping her hands on the bottom of her shirt. Looking at Sofia, she frowns, "I admit it, I've been obsessing over you and your health as well as the Wings of Darkness that I haven't noticed how Liam is around me," she looks down, frowning some more and feeling a little ashamed. "He has been taking good care of me late at night after the nightmares… I've been taking it for granted that he's up in the night watching over me."

Walking to her Sofia listens and uses her right hand to lift Lara's chin so she'll look at her, a smile and a look of understanding in her eyes. "Hey, when you get back thank him… I'm not there to comfort you or anything in the way he has been. I know you feel loyal to me Lara, just as I feel loyal to you, we both have needs, and he's the only one with a pecker," she winks to cause Lara to blush at the name. "Since I've been with you I have been with no other… other than myself," she winks again to make Lara blush crimson again.

"You are a workaholic, and you deserve to have fun as well," Sofia adds, she knows Lara and wants her to hear it. Lara stares at her and takes in what she's saying which she knows is true.

"Sofia… I don't view Liam in that way," Lara says and Sofia nods.

"You didn't before, but you might now that I've opened your eyes to it," Sofia reminds her and Lara sighs and nods at well.

"I would never let anything happen between Liam and I," Lara adds and Sofia leans in to her, her hand still under her chin and she kisses her. Lara returns the kiss and cups her left cheek.

Pulling away from the kiss slowly, Sofia rests her forehead on Lara's, her eyes staying closed, "what I'm saying is… before you consider committing to me… enjoy the real thing between your legs before you could be stuck with my fingers and tongue," Sofia says which makes herself blush just a tinge at the memories that come flooding in quickly.

Lara opens her eyes and looks at Sofia to see Sofia open hers and their eyes lock on one another, "are you sure?" Lara asks with uncertainty. She didn't expect to have this kind of conversation with Sofia when she came to visit.

Smiling, "yes, now give me that tongue before we go back out there," Sofia gives a small command and Lara doesn't hesitate, she kisses her with her lips parted and Sofia does the same. Sofia places her hands onto Lara's waist, holding her body parallel to her own and she feels Lara suck on her tongue so she lets her and moans in enjoyment. Missing being this close to her, breasts touching Lara are through their clothing just a bit for a total feeling of being in bliss.

A knock comes to the door and they pull apart as Jackie pokes her head in, "sorry ladies, Martha and Brock are getting impatient, I stalled for as long as I could," she opens the door wider. Sofia and Lara stand side by side and hold hands as they walk to the open doors.

Lara smiles at her and places her right hand onto Jackie's left shoulder, "I wish I had a Grandma back at home like you," and Jackie in return hugs Lara. Sofia watches the sweet moment and let's go of Lara's hand so she can hug her in return properly.

"Call me your Grandma anytime sweetie, your just as much a part of this village as anyone else."

To Be Continued…

* * *

I wanted to show the level of trust and commitment between Lara and Sofia in this one, to show an opening that could occur later on. It may or it may not. Please give me your thoughts! Review!


	3. Messages

After getting to the air field, which was a long stretch of flat, dirt ground, dying grass on the sides and a wall of trees on either side. They took a private plane to their next destination, in the desert and cloaks for the environment they are going into. Both of them wearing cloaks with their hoods up, Lara's khaki, Jonah's is a darker brown, and in matching cargo pants, though Jonah is wearing a black BDU shirt and Lara is wearing her usual sleeveless shirt that she wore when she first ran into Trinity.

Walking through the market place, the venders all bunched up alone both sides, selling jewelry, fish, meat, material, clothing, grains, trinkets, you name it and Jonah glances at Lara, wondering if this last article that came out about the Wings of Darkness is true or if they're on a while goose chase. Her eyes are determined, her mind is set and she wants answers.

Sand gusts through the area and they both hold their hood down to protect their faces, vendors calling out to them, but Lara can barely hear them. Knowing how much danger these innocent people were in if the wings were used here, the whole place would be silent except for the wind and littered with bodies. Her mind flashes to images of the whole street being eerily quiet, the vendors' tables being empty, paper and garbage being blown up and down the street with bodies lying all around them. Stepping carefully around their limbs, looking down she sees the faces, they are grey, their mouths are open as though they were crying out for help, dry from the sandy air, their pupils are gone, a very light tinge of grey-white, but the fear still lingers there.

Her mind flashes and there's black blood dried on their chins, their cheeks, having spilled out from the corners of their mouth, on their hands, and their bodies are twisted from falling to the ground and writhing on the floor in pain. Their brains having tried to register what was happening, what went wrong, why are their blood vessels erupting, why is there a black whisping chemical sweeping through their veins, making their muscles contract and their nerves twitch uncontrollably. Gasping as the blackened blood fills their lungs and came gushing out through their mouths seconds before drowning on their own poisoned blood. Their bodies being left on the streets with no one left in the city to call on, to get answers, the world oblivious to the terror that could come to the UK, to America, to the rest of the world because someone thinks it's a brilliant and wicked idea to save the world from itself and start it over.

Lara finally registers that her eyes are closed and that she stopped walking, that Jonah's hands are on her shoulders, "Lara? Are you okay?" his voice coming through the dog of her mind, she opens her eyes and her ears finally take in the noise of the marketplace. Her heart is racing at what she's facing, what she needs to stop if the wrong people get their hands on it.

She looks into his eyes; he's scared for her, scared of what is going on in her mind to make her stop and freeze up, "Jonah… I need to get the Wings of Darkness," Lara says and he nods firmly, seeing a new sense of purpose in her like when she first found the location for the Divine Source. Her dedication showing in her eyes.

"Alright, let's go and get answers then," Jonah says and feels a hint of fear, he has never seen her freeze up like that, close up in on herself, he swore she was shaking just a little and no one else but him saw that she was doing.

They continue through the market place, and come to a four way and turn down the main street to go to the palace. It's wider here and less people, the palace is so grand, but her mind isn't on the architecture this time, it's on the opening ahead of her and the guards standing in front of the large double doors leading in.

Walking through the entry way lined with pillars on either side, Lara looks up at the guards who are blocking her way from getting in, "I've come to see the Prince, I have an appointment." She pulls away her hood and the guards step aside. She blinks in surprise but shrugs it off and walks in with Jonah.

There are antiques, collectibles, special artifacts on pedestals lining the walls and special paintings on the wall as they go along, but Lara isn't focused on it. Feeling anxious now to be in a city where the Wings of Darkness were possibly seen recently, it gives her the chills where she would be normally enjoying the new surroundings as Jonah is.

Going up three flights of stairs, they come to a landing with a long red rug with black trim. A foreign language is heard on the other side of these double doors with glass in the holes, Jonah looks at Lara, "you sure these were the directions he gave? How come we didn't get an escort?"

Taking a deep breath and staring at the door ahead of them, "because I requested for no escort, I told him I'd be bringing no weapons as this was a meeting for knowledge. Nothing more," she answers and the doors open up to have the prince standing before them with his arms open wide.

"Ah-ha! The woman who found the golden hand of Midas! Come-come!" Prince Auda says excitedly and that's when Jonah remembers her interview that got her some good karma and some bad. But at least she finally has some good publicity on her side.

He has a large black full beard that he's kept trimmed, thick black hair that is wavy, wearing a white robe with golden trim and blue accents on symbols that Lara does not recognize. His arms are open wide, "Please, come in! Have a seat and a drink," he smiles widely as they step in.

There are guards standing at the door and at the balcony overseeing the area they walked in from, "would you like to have some tea?" he offers as they take seats in wooden caned chairs with thick red cushions and a short but long oak table sits between them. The wall behind Lara and Jonah and a big picture window with plants in the way behind Prince Auda.

Lara nods, "yes, please," she says to be polite; pushing aside the images her mind created earlier and remembering she has to be civil to get her answers.

He motions to a bald slender servant to bring the tray and he rubs his hands together, "the Lara Croft," he smiles and looks at Jonah, "and her partner in action, Jonah Maiava," he extends his hand to Jonah who gives him a firm shake.

The tray is set down and three cups are poured, Lara puts sugar into hers and a bit of milk, Jonah puts just sugar into his while Prince Auda leaves his as is. "I was not expecting to get a phone call from you, knowing that it is artifacts and special, special treasures you go after," he looks at Lara now before taking a sip and so does Lara and Jonah. "I have to tell you Lady Croft, I do not own any special things."

Taking a moment Lara goes into her right cargo pants pocket on her thigh and pulls out a standard piece of paper and shows him the picture of the Wings of Darkness. "Do you recognize this?" she asks before taking another sip of her tea.

Prince Auda smiles when he looks at it, "yes, I owned that piece once," he looks up at her, seeming oblivious to what it truly is. "I got it in a trade, it was in a glass case on display, and an older man came around collecting priceless artifacts claiming to be with a museum."

Lara blinks, "you sold him the wings?" she asks and he nods. She wants to ask him more without setting off alarms, and she doesn't know how much she can trust him.

Nodding and setting the photo down, "yes, for $500,000.00. He said his name was Albert Ograc," Prince Auda says and Lara's mind starts reelin. "I got the feeling these wings were special, but I didn't think there was anything that…." He thinks for a moment, "special? What do you know about them Lady Croft?" he looks at her in genuine intrigue.

Taking another sip to finish her tea, Lara looks up at him, "someone told me that I should look into them," she lies and holds her head as it starts to feel fuzzy, and Jonah doesn't flinch when she does. "I got a letter in the mail with that photo, so I did some research to find you were the last one who owned it. But it never said you sold it to anyone," Lara says and works to connect the dots while she finds herself spacing out, finding it harder to focus. She knows that something like what he is saying would have been in the newspaper.

"I only just sold it to him yesterday," Prince Auda says and Lara's eyes widen, "would you like his business card?"

She nods her head and he snaps his fingers for the servant to walk over with the card, "thank you Prince Auda," Lara says as clearly as she can, looking up at him and she notices that her vision is blurring, her hand trembles as she reaches for it.

"Lara?" Jonah says and she looks at him before looking back at the Prince. Jonah collapses, hitting his head on the table before rolling onto his side on the floor.

Her head is spinning; she places both of her hands onto the table to try and stabilize herself, "I'm sorry Lady Croft, but I'm doing this to protect my client, please understand that it is just business."

The room is spinning around her, she tries to stand up but her balance is completely off and she falls onto her left side on the floor. No matter how many times she blinks, the room will not stop and her vision continues to blur. Prince Auda stands before her now, and sighs. "It's a mind game… a dangerous mind game."

With that her vision went dark.

* * *

Jonah wakes up, groggy as all get out and groans to himself, slowly opening his eyes as the place he's in gives a small shake. He sees a couple of armed guards standing in the small hallway leading to the cockpit, both are in black BDU's, black vests and have assault rifles slung around their necks, nothing more. Glancing to his left he sees Lara is sitting next to him and is asleep, looking at his buckle system that is keeping him in place his eyes go up to watch the two guards who are talking about an episode of Homeland.

His fingers move around the buckle to unfasten it _where the hell are we?_ He wonders and gets the primary buckle undone and one of the guards looks his way. He quickly fakes that he is still asleep.

"Hmmm I thought I heard something," the one says, both of their faces are covered with a cloth, the one on the right walks over to Jonah, "hey big guy, you awake?" he asks and kneels down in front of Jonah to get a look at his face.

Without warning Jonah punches him square in the jaw, the guy is knocked out instantly, falling onto Jonah and the other guy jumps in surprise. Grabbing his assault rifle and aims it at Jonah, he fires off a few rounds while the plane jumps around and Jonah pulls the friend up as a shield making him take a couple of the hits and the buckle takes one of the others.

His eyes dart around, his brain in overdrive as he needs to get Lara and him out of this mess and do his best to make sure she doesn't get hurt. He stands up to fumble for the guys assault rifle, grabbing the handle he swings it around and fires the rifle shooting the guy a few times in the chest, the guy stumbles into the wall behind him screaming out in pain while pulling the trigger on his own gun. One of them nails Jonah in the right thigh making him drop the man who was a shield. He looks at Lara quickly to see she wasn't shot and grips his thigh, looking at the wound briefly to assess the major artery wasn't hit. Standing up to grimace he limps to the cockpit quickly _we need some answers_.

Once he gets to the door he holds up the assault rifle at the ready, he turns the knob to find it is locked, "hey! Open this door! I want some answers!" he shouts and gets silence in response.

Shooting the lock he shoves the door open and the pilot swings a handgun on him, "you won't take me alive!" he cries and Jonah wastes no time putting a couple of bullets into him to watch the man collapse instantly and slump into the controls.

A machine starts to beep like crazy and Jonah looks out the glass to see they're flying out over some mountains, "what the heck… where were you guys taking us?" he mumbles and sees that the plane is starting to tilt forward, "shit!" he grabs the pilot's under arms and with most of his strength pulls him out of his chair. The bullet hole in his leg oozing out blood while he was pulling the man out, once the pilot is out if his chair, Jonah uses what strength he has left to drag the body to the other area where the other two are and Lara.

Planting his hands onto his thighs, sweat on his face he puts his right hand onto his face to wipe the sweat off but truth be told he doesn't feel too good. Wiping his face caused blood from his leg to go onto his face. Looking around he sees no parachutes which means they need to get the plane back under control. He hobbles over to Lara as fast as he can, more sweat appearing in seconds on his face as he strains to walk, he places his hands onto her shoulders and gives her a gentle shake, "Lara! Wake up! I need you!"

Lara is shaken awake, she's sitting and then realizes Jonah is talking to her, she opens her eyes as the fog in her mind is slowly lifting. Her mind registers blood on his face and he's grimacing. "Lara! I need you to fly this thing!" she sees he is holding her shoulders, she blinks and feels a strong shudder from the plane they're in and looks around, his right thigh has been shot and there are a few dead men on the floor. There are boxes and crates held into place behind her.

The plane shakes violently as her groggy mind clears up and she feels herself snap into action, standing up to stumble into Jonah who helps guide her to the front of the plane which was across from where she was sitting. She grabs for the walls leading to the cockpit, lights going off, beeping from controls as she staggers to the two seats to find them both empty and blood on some of the controls. _I'll ask questions after I get this plane back under control… if I can_ Lara jumps into the pilot's seat as she sees they are going down towards a heavily wooded area and the whole plane shakes with turbulence.

Buckling herself into her harness system she looks at the wheel in front of her and pulls, her hands shaking with the plane, she presses her feet to the wall under the controls and uses that as support and pulls harder. Her heart hammering in her chest in fear as she stares at the tree tops while they get closer, she clenches her jaw, groaning, straining, and pulling even harder to watch as the plane finally lifts.

Jonah gives a sigh of relief once they're going up and she manages to level it, finally she hits the switches to shut the beeping off and make the lights stop flashing. "What the hell happened?" Lara asks as he takes a seat in the co-pilot's spot, Jonah looks as though he's about to pass out, his pant leg is almost soaked with blood. She looks at the controls and finds autopilot to turn it on before unbuckling herself to search for the first aid kit.

"I… I don't know," Jonah's chest heaves as sweat starts to drip down the side of his face. "The… the last thing I recall… w-was the P-P-Princcce," his eye lids start to droop and his head starts to slump forward.

Hurrying back to the cockpit to see the first aid is tucked behind the pilot's chair Lara opens it on her seat to start going through the contents, "stay with me Jonah!" she looks over her shoulder and finds the gauze, she also finds a brown gelatin in a pouch which she knows is meant for deep wounds.

Turning to face him, Lara lightly taps his left cheek to get his eyes to open a little, "Jonah! Stay with me Jonah!" she feels herself starting to panic as he drops off. Pursing her lips she looks at his pant leg and with her fingers pulls the fabric apart, making the hole nice and big. "I need to clean your leg to see the bullet hole better…" she looks in the kit to see a large bottle of rubbing alcohol, she gives a hissing sound as she opens it.

"Sorry," she pours it over the bullet wound area and his eyes shoot open for him to scream out, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry Jonah, I needed to clean the area to see what I'm dealing with," she says and watches him slowly relax.

"Geez girl, couldn't you have used water?" Jonah asks with a partial smile, looking down at her as she opens up a pouch and pours some of it over the bullet hole and feels around the back to find no exit hole.

"Sorry, didn't really want to spend extra time searching for water when your passing out," Lara explains, moving back to the one on the top she grabs a couple of square pieces of gauze to lie on top before taking a thick roll of gauze out and wraps it around his leg over and over again until it's done. Going back to the kit she pulls out some tape and pins it into place.

Finally she closes up the kit and takes her pilot seat to view where they are, "what the heck happened Jonah?" she looks at him, "besides the Prince drugging us, he obviously faked drinking his own tea."

He groans and wipes at his forehead to get rid of the sweat, "I woke up, saw two armed guys, knocked out one, the other shot him, I shot that guy and then the pilot pulled a gun on me and finally I woke you up," he looks at her with a smile.

She raises her right brow at him, "short and to the point… now… where the heck are we?" Lara looks around for any indication but finds none so she stands up again to search the pilot's body and to her relief he has his cell phone and it wasn't shot. Taking her seat again she dials for the mansion and within two rings Winston answers.

"Hello?" Winston says and Lara smiles to herself.

"It's Lara, Jonah and I are in a pickle and I need Liam to track the number I'm using to figure out where the heck we are," Lara says and hears Winston give a sigh. "I'm alright; but Jonah's been shot in the leg, we're in the air and have no way of knowing where we are."

"Just a moment Lady Croft," Winston says within a couple of moments hears the phone being transferred; a mumbled explanation goes on the other end.

"Give me a moment, going onto my computer now… how did your meeting go with Prince Auda?" Liam asks and Lara sighs.

"He told me that he sold the wings to someone yesterday while drugging us with his tea," Lara reaches down to feel her pocket and is surprised to hear the sound of paper in it as she never put the photo back. "Hmmm… what's this?" she says out loud without intending to and pulls the folded piece of paper out of her pocket.

To her surprise there's something in the folding, undoing it she finds another piece of paper that is folded in half, "a letter," to this Jonah looks over in curiosity.

"Dear Lady Croft, I apologize for knocking you out like that, but I have spies in my midst and didn't want them to overhear what I wanted to tell you. This was my only way to protect you. The name of the buyer was actually Eli Drachir, a private businessman with an office in San Francisco. His address is 33rd Avenue, 1509 Cabrillo St. Apt. 410. Please, when this mess is over, come and visit again. Sincerely Prince Auda," Lara looks up at Jonah and he smiles.

"Looks like we're on the right track," Jonah says and Liam is typing away on his computer.

"My suggestion, come back home, refuel and get Jonah the medical attention he needs. I'll then go with you to the apartment," Liam suggests and Lara looks at Jonah to see he is looking like he can pass out again.

She looks out through the window and her eyes widen at some of the building structures she's starting to fly over, "no, Jonah needs a hospital now and… I think I'm in Spain," she responds. She hears some typing going on the other end of the phone.

"You would be correct, but Lara it isn't safe enough for you to go to San Francisco on your own being you were just drugged," Liam comments and Lara lets out a slow breath, thinking about everything that is going on.

"Well, after I land and get Jonah set up with the closest hospital, I'll get a plane to take me to San Francisco," Lara says with determination. "If you want to join me I suggest you hop on a plane as soon as you can."

To Be Continued…

* * *

Review please! Yes, I took Jonah out but I gave him action. And things are going to continue to get interesting.


	4. Chase

Heel is bouncing on the floor of the taxi, her eyes are staring at the text on the page before her but her mind isn't there, it's on Eli Drachir. _Why would he be after the Wings of Darkness? Does he have someone paying him to get it for them? What if he never gave Prince Auda his real name and address to avoid being followed and I'm on a wild goose chase?_ She closes her eyes while she sets the document onto the seat next to her, rubbing her face with both hands.

"Jonah…" her eyes open and her mind flashes to when he was stabbed by Konstantin. Watching the man take advantage of Jonah's hesitation, while she banged on the glass yelling at him to shoot. He told her then _"You can't blame yourself anymore, we all make our own choices." He chose to find me even after I told him over the radio to turn back, that it was my mission but he chose to not leave me side. I know that when I was going after the Hand of Midas he wasn't hurt, that is was me, but he got shot because of me_.

She stares out her window, watching the rain droplets hit the glass and slip down, in the distance she sees the lighting flashing up in the clouds above the city buildings and her mind drifts off to the hospital she left 15 hours ago…

 _His arm slung over her shoulder, Lara grits her teeth as she helps him limp through the Emergency Entrance, sweat glistening on her forehead and soaking the upper portion of her top with the sun setting behind her. "Please help! My friend has been shot!" she calls out, a male doctor standing at the info desk looks up from his chart in alarm and a male nurse sitting at a computer jumps from his seat._

 _The nurse hurries around the counter to grab a stretcher and the doctor hurries to the other side of Jonah and relieves Lara from his weight onto his own shoulder. "What happened?" the doctor asks, he's dark skinned, with corn rows, looks young and slender._

" _We were on a private plane, a cargo plane and he got into a fight with someone who then pulled a gun and started shooting," Lara lied but at the same time she couldn't tell the truth. The less questions the better._

 _The nurse, an older guy with a full beard, bald head and a belly comes around the corner with the stretcher; the doctor and the nurse help Jonah into lying down and start to wheel him away. For the first time Lara glances around to see that she's not the only one there, a handful of people are waiting to be taken in and are all staring at her._

" _WAIT! Lara!" Jonah yells out and she turns to run back to him, once at his right side she takes his hand firmly._

" _You're going to be fine, Jonah," Lara assures him and he nods before pulling her down so her ear is to his lips._

 _He whispers, "you go and get those Wings of Darkness, they don't know I'm here but they'll go for those wings. Stop them," she pulls away and watches him give a nod before getting pulled away._

 _She feels his fingers slip through her own, his face slowly disappears through the double doors, leaving her standing there. "Excuse me, miss?" comes a chirpy little voice from behind her and she realizes she has paperwork to do. Walking to the desk to see a young girl at a computer, long light brown hair framing her face, bright green eyes and when she looks up a sweet smile. "Hi! Could you please fill this out and as soon as we know anything we'll notify you as soon as we have any news."_

 _Lara takes the clipboard from her with the form, her eyes glance over the words and reads health card, "I don't know much about his medical history… he has his health card on him," Lara looks up at her and the girl nods._

" _Okay, fill out what you can and we'll go from there," she answers and Lara walks to a chair nearby without looking and sits down. Her mind reeling from the events, if she and Jonah were that much of a threat to the wings then she has to follow with his instructions and get to Eli. She quickly fills out what she can and rushes to the desk._

" _I have to go and get something; I left my phone number on there and our co-workers if you cannot reach me. Thank you," Lara says hurriedly and before the girl could say anything Lara was gone back through the automatic doors to the air port._

Lara called Roger after she left the hospital to get a private jet that would take her straight to San Francisco, and watches as the car comes to a stop. She jumps and looks around to see that they're at the apartment, gathering up her papers she pulls out her wallet and pays the driver before stepping into the rain and stepping into the building quickly she hurries to the main door. A group of teenagers are laughing and goofing around as they're stepping out, the last one holds the door open for Lara and she says a quick thanks before stepping through.

Pulling out the note from Prince Auda she looks over the room number again, 410 and she glances around. The apartment building is nice looking, burgundy walls, hardwood flooring, golden lights along the ceiling; she hurries along the doors till she finds the elevator on her right. Pressing the button she feels herself getting more and more anxious as she waits, her fingers clenching the note tightly in her fingers as the doors open down the middle.

Stepping into the elevator, relieved to see no one else is inside she presses the button for 4 and watches the doors close. Looking at the number on the note again she folds it up to tuck it into her pants pocket and once the doors open she hurries through them. Glancing up at the numbers on the doors, going left she finds herself walking and soon after speed walking, feeling her anxiety building up with every step she takes.

 _What if he did get it for a client? What if he has no idea what it is? What if he touches it and I find him dead on the floor and no wings?_ She shakes her head _stop it Lara, you will get there and all will be fine… though it never works out that way_.

Her eyes settle on 410 and she's about to knock when she notices the door is open a crack, "hello? Eli Drachir…" her eyes widen she sees the place. Everything is a mess, just ahead of her is a crouch with the stuffing sticking out and discarded, along the wall to her right is a very long book shelf that almost touches the ceiling, books have been spilled from most of the shelves. Two of the units have been knocked onto their face, one is resting on what she assumes is the red wood oval coffee table.

Papers and couch stuffing at her feet as she steps in, being careful with where she steps, her eyes take in the wreckage, the books lying open on their back, face or like a tp. Pages of scribbles, sticky notes, as she moves around to the left of the couch and towards the kitchen she finds glasses, bowls and plates smashed on the counter and on the floor. There is a bag sitting open with some boxes that look to be take out.

On the wall between the kitchen and the study area is certificates of achievement, they're been smashed, there is a picture between the certificates of Eli surrounded by a group of guys, each holding up a stein. _Celebrating something great…_ she frowns and turns to go back to the coffee table.

"Eli Drachir?" Lara calls out and walks to the window that's across from the couch and coffee table, the rain is pouring heavily, she clenches her jaw tightly.

Lara feels a sudden tightness on her right ankle and jumps when it pulls, she spins around and looks down to see a bloodied hand sticking out from under the second book shelf unit holding her ankle.

"Please… don't-" the young man coughs and she crouches down low, trying to see under the unit a young man with glasses. He's a red head with short curly hair, a 5 o'clock shadow, white sweater vest and dark blue dress shirt under it and beige slacks. "Help me," he groans.

She moves around to the top of the shelving unit, wrapping her fingers firmly around the edge she lifts with her knees. It takes a moment as it is only her and the unit feels like solid wood, "you've got expensive taste Mr. Drachir," Lara grunts. As it goes high enough she hears him coughing and groaning while she moves under it and is careful not to step on him. Continuing to push the book case unit straight up, her feet stepping on uneven ground as books shift and papers slip under her, she is forced to pause with lifting the unit to kick away some stacks of books to plant her feet firmly on the floor. Making the process tricky, finally she hears the satisfying thud of it hitting the wall, holding her hands out and watching it carefully to be sure it won't fall again. Once she is confident, Lara moves to Eli, kneeling down next to his weakened body.

"Who did this to you?" Lara asks as she touches his right shoulder gently.

He gives a light chuckle, "someone who I should have done my homework on properly, Frutana Corp," he answers and Lara feels a chill run up her spine. "One of their partners and stock holders is presumed dead."

Taking a deep breath as she helps to turn him over she sees a stab wound to his lower stomach, the method used to give the recipient a slow and painful death. She opens her mouth to say something, but hears footsteps approach the door, they stop just at the door, and Lara looks around frantically and finds a lamp on the floor from a little fancy table. She moves around as though she's back in the woods, being cautious with how she steps and where she steps while wrapping the cord around the base so it doesn't dangle about.

Lara walks sideways to the wall and edges along it to the door as it slowly opens, her back is to the wall, and her heart rate is elevated. The floor doesn't creek as the door opens more, just finger tips pushing it open against the books and paper that slide under it. Biting her lower lip as her palms feel sweaty against the wood of the base of the lamp, Lara inches just a tad closer to the doorway and watches as a gun is coming into the room.

Not taking any chances, Lara twists herself to the intruder and swings the lamp down onto the hand holding the gun, "Gah!" he yells and steps into Lara to freeze. Face to face with Liam, Lara's heart is beating wildly and she lets out a deep breath that she didn't realize she was holding.

"My gosh… Liam!" Lara smiles at him and he smiles back.

Stepping into the apartment properly and closing the door behind him, "I would have gotten here sooner but a big storm hit and the airport ground _all_ flights," he holsters his gun and looks down to see Eli lying on the floor with a large amount of blood on his shirt. "Shit! What happened to him?"

Running to the kitchen, Liam opens and closes drawers quickly till he finds the stash of towels for drying the dishes and hurries back while Lara calls 911 on her cell phone.

"Frutana Corp is what happened to him," Lara answers and Liam doesn't bother to look up. He isn't surprised.

"Were they after the Wings of Darkness?" Liam asks and Eli nods, groaning at the towels being pressed into his wound.

"Yes, but it's not here," he grimaces and coughs, "they didn't believe me when I said I didn't bring it home with me."

Liam glances up at Lara, she's listening between giving the address, and he looks back at the young man who could be just a few years older than himself. "You're going to be alright," Liam promises, from his history with torturing and the paleness on Eli's face, this wound was inflicted recently. They did this wound with the intention that he should still be alive if and when they come back to interrogate him some more. "Where did you put the Wings of Darkness?"

Giving a light laugh, "suddenly a hot item… but I cannot let it fall into the wrong hands… just know it is safe," he says softly, resting his head back and looking up at Liam finally.

Hanging up her phone, Lara rushes back, "please Eli, I only intent to protect it from the wrong hands. I've dealt with Frutana Corp before and they will stop at nothing to get their hands on it."

Looking up at her, Eli gives her a look of recognition, "I… I know your face," he coughs and Lara nods. "You gave an interview… the hand of Midas… you're a Croft," he smiles at her and reaches his hand up to her; she takes it and his face lights up. "You destroyed the Divine Source, didn't you?"

Lara is a little stunned by this question, she nods and he gives her hand a squeeze, "after I bought the Wings of Darkness I dropped them off on my way home. They're in Columbia," Eli says and she blinks.

"Where in Columbia?" Lara asks and he can see she is eager.

Reaching into his pants pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper he hands it to her, "the coordinates are here. Don't lose them… I fear that my friend in Columbia is in danger… get the wings before Frutana Corp-"

A grunt is heard, Lara and Liam both look up in time to see a man in the doorframe, the same one who took Lara's book when she was first investigating the Divine Source and he steps in only to hear a clamour of laughter in the hallway. He is startled; he turns and takes off, Lara stands up to step onto the cushions of the couch, places her hand onto the back of it and swings her legs up and over.

Slipping on the books and paper on the floor with her landing, "Lara! Wait!" Liam calls out, but she goes around the doorframe and is gone. She watches him push through a group of young men and women who look to have been partying, the group cry out, yelling after him and stumbling about. Lara almost pushes through until he slips into the elevator just as the doors are closing.

Breathing heavily she turns and sees the door to the stairwell at the other end of the hallway, she runs full out for it and shoves the door open. It's a regular winding staircase, she takes the railing and heaves herself up and over to the inside of the stairwell, planting the toes of her shoes to the black steel.

Looking down Lara acts quickly, pushing off and releasing her grip to drop and have her hands slap onto the next railing, her feet are planted onto the steel again and she does it again and again till her feet land on the rug at the bottom.

She swings open the door just in time to see her man walk out through the elevator, she hears him curse before he takes off through the main door. She runs after him, having a door open up and an older woman steps out for Lara to change up her footing to step around her and not lose her momentum.

Her legs are pumping as she grabs the handle for the door, turns, pulls and dashes through the door to see him take off through the entrance door into the rain and turn right. Lara bounds down the hallway and manages to shove the door open before it closed behind him and takes off down the sidewalk to the right.

He pushes through people who are using their umbrellas and aren't expecting him to push between them, "sorry," Lara says as she uses the same gap and chases after him. Weaving around garbage cans, smokers stepping out of their shelter, and watching him jump into traffic to leap over the car hood that had to slam on its breaks for him. She watches the car pull away and runs through where it once was, her feet splashing into a deep puddle that gets both of her legs soaked.

Lara's hair, and shirt are soaked, she wipes her bangs out of her face so she can continue to watch him. He makes a quick turn between a set of buildings and Lara quickly finds it rather tight. He is climbing up on a stack of boxes, slipping on the large double lidded garbage dumpster and he leaps to grab the fire escape ladder.

The guy just barely has it, hoisting himself up and climbing the slippery bars. Lara feels the boxes she climbs onto give way, but she pushes and jumps off of them onto the dumpster and leaps. Her left hand slips and her right hand clutches the bar, grunting she swings herself enough to grab the same bar with her left hand and pull herself up.

"You just don't quit!" the man shouts angrily as she climbs the ladder to see him taking off up the stairs going up the fire escape.

"Better believe it you bastard," Lara says under her breath, feeling a chill setting in and her hands starting to slip on the railing but the tread on her boots catching the cross hairs of the fire escape allow her to propel herself and charge across to turn and go up the stairs.

Using her hands to pull herself up the stairs while taking every other step as she goes up, she feels the rough patches in the steel where the paint has broken away for the pointy edges to jab her skin. Lightning flashes over her head, illuminating everything as she keeps her eyes on his back. Two flights, three flights, she is relieved to see him slipping and stumbling on his way to the top, and finally he trips as he gets to the top.

Finally she storms up the last couple of steps to see him scrambling to run across the pebbled roof top, steam issuing out of the pipes. Her boots slipping briefly as she takes off after him, her heart beating wildly from this pursuit for knowledge _I'm not going to let you escape this time!_ She watches him look over his shoulder; he changes direction to have his left leg get nailed on the inside of his calf.

Spinning around he groans, clutching his leg briefly before continuing on, but now she's on his heels just as he's reaching the other end of the roof. He screams as he leaps, Lara knows that if she tries to stop she won't be able to, due to the soaked ground she'll slip off and most likely hit everything on the way down.

Instead Lara leaps off the edge and within seconds of falling she finally makes contact with the guy, grabbing him around the waist he gasps. She doesn't see the other buildings fire escape, nor does she feel it. He takes it in the shoulder, making them both do a wicked turn in the air; she loses her grip on him, she feels the next railing down on her lower back.

Releasing her grip on him as her body does a flip on the way down, she loses sight of him to have her body hit the top of a dumpster and finally tumble to the ground. Lying there on her back she listens to the guy that she'd been chasing hit the ground with a thud.

Lara's body aches from the running, from the hits and now has the adrenaline leaving her body; she turns her head in the rain water beneath her to look at him a couple feet away. He isn't getting up, instead he lies there groaning. _I need my answers while he won't fight me_ she forces herself to roll onto her left side, facing the middle of the alley and plants her right hand onto the ground to steady herself before moving on her hands and knees to him on the other side of the alley.

Crawling with the rain continuing to pour on them both, lightning illuminating the whole place again and Lara moves to kneel next to him, he groans and looks away from her. To her surprise blood starts to come out of the corner of his mouth.

"You just don't know when to quit…" he groans and coughs, but that's what tells her he's got a nasty internal injury. He clutches at his chest and wheezes. More blood to come up, spilling over his cheek and onto the wet ground.

"You've got a punctured lung," Lara analyses and he nods before coughing up more blood and she looks up at the end of the alley, "help!" she screams as a loud crack of thunder resounds. The rain dripping off her face as she stares and looks down at him, cradling his head, he's stopped moving. She touches his neck to feel for a pulse and after what feels like minutes, she lets her hand drop, accepting that he is dead.

Groaning she moves to roll onto her back, almost in the middle of the alley and stares up at the black clouds. Watching the millions of streaks of rain coming toward her and hitting everything else, the lightning making the clouds glow in flickers, feeling the thunder make the ground rumble beneath her. Completely soaked, her chest going up and down evenly, her breath having caught up, her legs no longer aching from all of the running, instead she feels the dampness setting in. The cold clothes with the breezes of the night air accompanied by the rain, her body gives a small flinch to the shudder she feels inside of her at the coldness reaching her muscles and bones.

As she stares up at the clouds, her mind drifts to Sofia _what does your sky look like tonight? What did you do today? Have you been thinking about me… what am I saying? Of course you have been… but now you're wondering about Liam. Gosh… if you could see me now… in the middle of an alley… at night… in the middle of a storm… you'd probably be shaking your head at me for my foolishness._ She closes her eyes, envisioning Sofia wrapping a blanket around her in her bedroom in the mansion, rubbing her back. Opening her eyes she is greeted by the clouds and rain, giving a shudder, Lara sits herself up and looks at the dead man next to her.

She reaches over and pats down his upper legs and then his chest to feel a small square bulge. Unzipping his jacket she reaches in to find a folded up piece of paper and holds it under herself to protect it from the rain while she looks at it, her eyes widen. "These are instructions… from Trinity," she folds it back up while standing up.

That's when she feels it, her lower back has pain spiking up her spine and into her hips, she hunches over while holding her hip with her free hand, "right… forgot about that," she glances up at the fire escape she remembers hitting on the way down. Lara looks at the man lying on the ground and pulls out her cell phone, dialing 911 _I'm not going to leave you in the rain; it would be immoral for me to just let you sit there while this storm rages out. I don't care what kind of man you are, no one deserves to be forgotten, which is what I'm sure Trinity would make happen_.

* * *

Lara steps into the apartment to find Liam staring out of one of the picture windows, the rain is calming down and the thunder has subsided, he turns around and looks at her in alarm, "where have you been? What happened to you?" He hurries to her, but Lara walks to the kitchen in search of an ice pack for her lower back.

Grimacing as she opens the freezer door and finds a bag of frozen peas, she places it onto her back and lets out a relieved sigh, "I chased the guy a little ways, down an alley, up a fire escape, jumped off the building to tumble down with him," she hisses as she takes a seat on the destroyed couch and he sits down with her. "Not the brightest idea… hurt my back in the process; he got a punctured lung and died in front of me. I called for police and gave a statement."

Liam listens and at the last part he blinks, "you called the police? What did you say?"

Resting her head onto the stuffing sticking out at the top, she gives a sigh while closing her eyes, "I told them I was walking by, and I heard someone give off a scream. When I looked up I saw him jump as though he was trying to jump to the next roof but failed, that I watched him hit a few things on his way down, soon after hitting the ground he was coughing up blood and before I knew it he was dead. They got my name, the one officer recognized me, and I told him I am in town to research something and took a stroll in the rain to give my eyes a rest from staring at documents all day. I think they bought it, but if there's a security camera on the streets I was running on they'll see me chasing him. We'll have to wait and find out," she sighs and feels like Liam is staring at her. "How's Eli?"

Running his fingers through his hair Liam looks at the spot where Eli had been lying on the floor and sighs, "he's going to be fine, he told me what we needed to know. His friend, the location, everything just before the paramedics took him away," he looks back at Lara, "you had me worried. I know you can handle yourself, but at the same time if he got the jump on you… led you into a trap-"

"Oh," Lara says, cutting him off in the hopes that what she got from the now dead guy will ease his mind, "I found this on his person, inside of his jacket but I didn't want it to get wet."

Going into her pocket she retrieves the note and hands it to Liam, he groans inwardly. He doesn't like her shrugging off his worries, not when he's supposed to be protecting her, if he could have reacted a second faster it would have been him bolting after him and not her. Looking at the folded up piece of paper, he takes it and finally puts his back to the couch as well as he unfolds it.

"Trent Donhavin, Due to your prior services being fruitful to our mission, Trinity orders you to see Eli Drachir, 33rd Avenue, 1509 Cabrillo St. Apt. 410, San Francisco. Find out where he has the Wings of Darkness by any means necessary while keeping a low profile. A payment of $200,000.00 will be given, half now and half upon completion," he finishes and sighs. "So we have two companies going for the Wings of Darkness," he looks at Lara, "I'll call up Roger to set up for the next flight."

To Be Continued…

* * *

Sorry I hadn't posted in a while, I got hit with a nasty cold bug and so did my twins.

What do you think? What do you like? What was your favourite and least favourite part? I want to hear your thoughts :)


	5. Revelations

Opening his eyes, he grunts a little as he takes in his surroundings. Pale blue and white stripped curtains concealing him on his right, fluorescent light above his head, a chair across from him backing the wall, a nightstand to his left with a water pitcher filled with ice and water, Winston sitting in a chair to his left reading the newspaper. He blinks and flexes his right hand to feel the IV in the back of his forearm, looking up to see that with the IV is a heart rate monitor _how did the beeping not get to me sooner?_

Moving a hand to either side of him, he listens to Winston clear his throat, "there is a much easier way to do that Jonah." Turning his head to the older man, Jonah gives him a quizzical look, Winston doesn't look up yet. "There is a small control pad hanging from the left side of your bed rail, it will help you to adjust."

Looking down, Jonah smiles at the sight and picks it up, kind of awkward to hold it with the wrong hand and on a short cord he examines it before pressing the right button and feeling the bed shift to sit him up, "oooh that is much better," he smiles and in the corner of his eye Winston stands up to pour him water into a styrofoam cup.

Swallowing Jonah finally notices his mouth is dry, "thanks, how come you're here and not at the mansion?" he asks as Winston passes him the drink.

"Lady Croft called and asked me to come and see to you while on her flight to San Francisco," Winston answers and Jonah happily chugs down the whole cup before resting it on his hip.

"Is she okay?" Jonah asks and Winston nods, "is someone with her?"

"Liam is going to meet up with her," Winston answers and Jonah's hand crushes the cup. "Why such distaste for the man?"

Jonah takes a moment to gather his thoughts on the matter, "every time I see him I see the mask he wore when he was hurting Lara… when Sofia, Roger and I were storming through the halls and I heard her screams," he closes his eyes. "It was psychological torture through and through… knowing that Liam was one of the people who caused her to scream like that," he looks at Winston, his hand clenching on the broken cup. "I still have her screams playing over in my head... when he helped in healing her," his eyes soften, "on the helicopter… I swear she was on the brink of death."

Resting his head back and looking up at the ceiling now, "I was too engrossed in getting out of the cave, in waiting on help to get Lara out of there while she was dealing with Fernando. I… I didn't hear this guy grab for Sofia's bow… I didn't hear the quiver slipping out of it's sheath… it is on me that Lara was shot with the arrow and I watched helplessly as it went through her." Tears brim his eyes as his mind is watching the scene take place again. "Watching her fall might as well have been me who put that arrow into her."

"She is fine, Jonah," Winston reminds him and Jonah looks at him, his head still resting on his pillow.

"I didn't think it was a good idea that Lara hired Liam… now he is in the same house as her with camera in her room. I just hate the idea that the man could be looking in on her while she's changing," Jonah says and Winston sits back in his own chair.

"From what I have seen in Liam, he looks to respect Lara. I know everyone has a dark side to them, but I do not think he'd stoop to that level. I could be wrong but it is a vibe I'm getting from him," Winston says and clasps his hands together on his lap. "How do you view Lara?"

Looking at him confused, "like a little sister," he answers truthfully and Winston nods in accepting.

"I heard on the helicopter you genuinely thanked Liam for saving Lara's life," Winston comments and Jonah sighs before rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah… I did… in that moment I had finally gained respect for the man. He risked his hide to go into Fernando's tent and find the one and only thing that was going to save Lara… and I was ready to leave him behind," Jonah runs his fingers through his hair before gripping and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Now you feel guilty… one of the men who hurt Lady Croft, you were going to leave him to die and he had saved her life… you feel guilty for almost causing her to lose her only chance at living," Winston reasons and Jonah lets his head fall.

"Maybe… I went on Lara's first adventure with her, her second and third and now… I can't!" Jonah feels himself getting angry and Winston stands up to walk to the foot of his bed.

"You already have, need I remind you," he looks at Jonah, "you went to the desert with her, met Prince Auda and helped her get on track. You also protected her and," he raises his right index finger. "Sent her on her way to continue her journey, you did the right thing," looking at Jonah, "I'll talk to the doctor about when you can be released."

With that Winston walked out and Jonah sat there mauling over what Winston had just said to him, he takes the rim of the sheet and pulls it back to look at his leg, several layers wrapped around his leg, it doesn't hurt but he has no doubt that his pain killers must be good. "I can't help you right now Lara…" he pulls the sheet back onto himself, "but I promise, when you need me to be… I'll be there. Count on it."

* * *

The plane shakes as the wheels run along on the bumpy, dirt, air strip. Lara watches the trees going by, the area around the air strip is sparse of most plant life, tall weeds scattered about and a wall of trees lining both sides. A couple of foot paths leading through the foliage and two dirt roads, Lara looks past the line of trees at the mountains in the distance with a few giant hills covered in either lush trees or having a large around of rock along the base.

Clutching at her arm rester as the ground outside gradually comes to a stop, reaching down Lara quickly unbuckles her harness, picking up her brow and quiver that Liam brought. Her handgun is in its holster on her right hip, she watches as Liam grabs the latch and pulls the door open.

Again, fresh air fills her lungs quickly, she smiles at the outdoors that now greets her, and Liam lets her step out first and then steps out after her onto the dirt ground. There is a small, old wooden building with a radio tower on top of it, a couple of chairs out front but no one is there to greet. Lara frowns at this, _few come and land here but shouldn't there be someone here?_ She wonders and her eyes survey the area and realize there is no vehicle nearby either.

Turning to the plane, Lara goes to the door and pokes her head in, "thank you for flying us here, we'll be here for a while," she smiles and the pilot smiles back. He has bushy, dark hair under a John Deer hat and a large black and grey beard; he nods his head and flips a few switches to get the plane started back up.

Turning around Lara heads for the small shack ahead, Liam follows her line of sight and follows behind her.

"Whoever mans this spot could be in town or at the nearest village," Liam reasons, having picked up on the same concerns as Lara.

She glances over her shoulder at him, "this is true," she turns her gaze to the door and watches it as she gets closer. "But at the same time I don't trust it." Once reaching the door Lara quickly notices the door is open just a bit, "hello?" she calls out as she opens the door, her hand resting on the grip to her gun.

There is a ceiling fan going slowly, some stacks of paperwork, a bag of unfinished pistachios on the desk next to the microphone and radio. Her eyes travel down to land on the body, an older dark man, white beard, wearing a khaki dress shirt and cargo pants with two bullet holes in his chest. "Someone got here first…" Lara says as she steps in and takes a glance at the papers to see if a flight plan, manifest, anything is around.

Liam steps in and gives a light sigh, "this could be either company, both are ruthless," he glances out the window to the air field as the plane takes off.

Finding nothing more recent than a week old, Lara looks at the body and kneels down, touching his chest, "he's still warm," she looks up at Liam, "he was killed this morning," she looks at her watch to double check that it is indeed noon.

"We should get moving, they've got a head start… though from Fernando's stand point he had a couple days on you and you still wound up on top," he smirks and Lara stands up to turn and face him.

"That is only because you withheld information," she turns to the radio and frowns when she sees bullet holes in it, having the intention to try and radio the nearest town about the dead civilian.

"There's nothing we can do for him now," Liam watched her line of sight and saw the look on her face of disappointment.

Nodding, Lara walks with him to head out of the shack and closes the door firmly behind her as she doesn't want any wild animals going after his body. Both start examining the ground for tracks and feel a strong breeze sweeps through which tells them most of the foot prints they'd usually see are already gone.

"Let's try up this foot path, it's the closest to the shack, it could lead to a local village," Liam suggests and Lara nods in agreement, feeling the sun start to heat up the back of her neck already.

They start up the path; neither of them speak knowing that they could lose the element of surprise on Trinity or Frutana Corp. Stepping over tree roots, ducking under tree branches, moving around thick bushes, stepping on rocks as they hear birds chirping over head. A dragonfly buzzes past her head, looking up Lara sees a large spider web in the tree branches, looking along the ground she spots a grass hopper leap from the path she's on to disappear into the foliage.

The air is heavy with moisture, hearing a buzz of a mosquito come to the right side of her neck she gives a smack, pulls her hand away to find her hand empty _I'll get you next time_.

She feels a small thud hit her on the top of the head, pausing and knitting her eye brows together in confusion she reaches her left hand up and gingerly taps around with her finger tips until she feels prickly hair. Smiling to herself, she turns to face Liam who looks confused as to why they've stopped, "I think I have a caterpillar on my head."

He smirks at this, she bends her head down a bit as he peers at the top of her head and sure enough a yellow, with taller black hairs, caterpillar is on her head, and currently curled up into a ball. No doubt from her having touched it. Liam reaches his right hand up and gently scoops the hairy thing up into his fingers, careful not to drop or squeeze it too tightly, and glances around for the nearest tree.

Stepping off the pathway he walks up to one, a thick trunk on it, finds some small branches with a few leaves on it and places the caterpillar onto the first leaf. He stands there watching it, as does Lara and slowly the little insect uncurls itself, looks around, and then turns itself around to head for the base of the branch the leaf is on.

"Nature…" Liam smiles as he turns to Lara and walks back to the path, "it's unpredictable and full of little surprises," he then gestures an imitation of the caterpillar having dropped onto her head.

"Yeah," Lara smiles back and looks back up the pathway, she continues up the path and they walk on in silence. Listening to the critters around them, the sound of leaves rustling above their heads as squirrels or chipmunks move from one tree to another.

Slowing down, Lara can hear movement and voices, they're murmur's and not in English. Peering through the thick foliage of the woods, she is able to make out wooden huts, native people moving around and picking up clothes, buckets, and other small things. Stepping into the open Lara and Liam notice that even though the atmosphere is hot, a chill runs down their spines and causes goose bumps to rise up their arms and spread.

The people have paused to take them in, fear on their faces, dirt on their skin and clothing; their hands are shaking before they start to hurry along and cleaning up more. Watching them hurry to sweep up the mess, pursing her lips, Lara examines the area and the layout, walking to a hut across from her she frowns as she runs her fingers over small holes. Closing her eyes she looks over her shoulder at Liam, "bullet holes…"

Lara's head snaps at the sound of the door to the hut opening on her right, she looks around the corner to see an older man stepping out, he has a crown of white hair on his dark skin. He glares at them, "get lost you two!" he barks hoarsely, "have you not done enough?" he points a shaking index finger at them. She cannot tell if he's shaking from fear or his nerves being shot or both, but she can see the mental exhaustion in his eyes.

 _They've been put through a lot… when did this happen?_ She wonders and listens to additional footsteps from behind, Liam moves to stand in front of her as they both feel the mood has changed. Turning to face the center of the little village, in the middle is a large fire pit, and it seems most things have been cleaned up but now the villagers are holding brooms, hatchets, rolling pins and shovels.

"Get out of here!" a younger woman shouts as she gets closer, Lara peers behind the group of angry and still frightened people to see the children in the back hiding behind the buildings, chairs, and the odd over turned table.

Studying the faces, Lara sees the worry lines, one of the companies came here hours earlier and terrorized these innocent people. _I may not see blood, but that doesn't mean they were not emotionally traumatized. The children were most likely threatened, the husbands shoved around at gun point… it's no wonder they're still shaking. No one is prepared for a group of soldiers to come in and start demanding things they know nothing about_ continuing to watch their advances Lara looks up and around the village.

It's a steep climb to the nearest rock ledge on the mountain they're on, but her concern is the plentiful trees within the radius of the village. _Plenty of cover to have men watching over the village, the team probably has a base camp set up at the top… I got here in time for these people to feel the fight come into them for any more strangers_.

Her eyes landing back on their haggard faces, torn and dirtied clothing. She raises both of her hands to make a show of no harm, "I'm not here to cause any trouble, and I came here to stop the people who hurt you from getting what they want."

A slender, teenage man walks up in a white shirt and beige shorts, bare footed and brandishes a large solid branch at her. "They promised us no trouble as well and the next thing we knew their men came out of the bushes and they started shooting! You're no better than them!" he states and they get closer, hunched over and flexing their fingers around the handles to their weapons, gathering their courage to chase her and Liam out.

Moving her hands down, Lara pats her waist, their eyes watch her hands carefully and start to advance faster. She can hear the click of Liam's handgun latch being released, looking over her shoulder at him, Liam looks ready to draw his gun, "please, let me try," she whispers and Liam gives her a look of 'are you serious?'

Her attention back to the villagers in front of her, "I'm going to remove my gun and toss it, nice and slow, alright?" she says, "I will unlatch my gun, but I'll use my index and middle fingers to pull the gun out and drop it. My friend behind me will do the same thing and then I'll remove my bow," Lara says it all in an even tone, although nervous of one of them jumping at her, she will defend herself but the last thing she wants to do is hurt any of them.

Carefully Lara does as she described, using her middle and thumb fingers to lift the gun out of its holster and then she holds it out with her finger tips before tossing it onto the dirt ground. A small puff of dirt rising and falling with the action, they continue to watch and Lara looks over her shoulder at Liam, giving him a nod.

He sets his jaw, not happy about being disarmed, even though he can take most of them down easily but he also knows that these people look desperate. Desperate people will do dumb things if they're pushed too far. Using the same fingers he pulls his own gun out and like Lara, he tosses it out, it does one flip before settling on the ground in front of the woman who had spoken first.

Reaching up, Lara takes her bow and slowly pulls it off from being around her back and tosses it to the ground as well. It clatters and the group stare at them, their eyes darting left and right, she can see the sweat start to build up along their hairlines. _They're expecting people to come out at them… whoever is in charge of the company must have done the same thing_ she takes a deep breath and raises her hands up again, her heart starting to beat faster, not liking the idea that she may be following in the same footsteps as those she's trying to stop.

"I promise, I mean you no harm… my friend and I just got here from the air field. Can you tell me who it was that came here terrorizing you?" Lara asks and the older man steps up behind her.

She glances over her shoulder at him, "he came looking for a set of wings called Darkness, and none of us have seen it! Now go!" he shouts the last part and points towards the air field. "If you truly mean us no harm then get out of here!"

Thinking fast, Lara remembers the name of the friend that was given the Wings of Darkness. Her eyes snap to the group of people in front of her, "Tahir!" they all jump at her saying the name and blink at her, Tahir was given the Wings of Darkness by his friend who asked him to hide it for him," Lara watches the villagers exchange glances.

"That's true," comes a voice from behind her, she hears the older man groan, turning around she watches as a man in his mid twenties comes out. He's wearing green BDU's, his left arm is in a handkerchief sling, right hand is holding a large tree branch as a walking stick, a piece of torn shirt is wrapped around his right calf. Dreadlocks, small mustache and goatee and a busted lip to go with it, "how do you know?"

Lowering her hands slowly, "I was given a note by Prince Auda, who sold the Wings of Darkness to Eli Drachir," she goes into her right thigh pocket to procure the letter and hands it over to him. Tahir opens the letter and reads it quickly, looking up at her, "what happened with Eli?"

Swallowing, and then taking a breath, "Eli was attacked by possibly the same people as you; he told me that on his way home he dropped the Wings of Darkness off with you. But the people who came after him didn't believe him… he was shot but my friend and I got him medical attention, he's now in the hospital. While we were there someone came to possibly get more information or to take him out," Lara purses her lips briefly. "I… I chased him but he was killed during the pursuit, I found a letter in his pocket.

Reaching into his right hip pocket, she pulls out the letter and hands it over to him, he reads it over and he looks crest fallen. Closing his eyes he folds up both documents and hands them back, "he feared he would get a target on his back once he discovered how dangerous the wings were." Looking back at Lara and Liam, "he didn't know he was being watched… the man who came here said he was from Trinity."

Putting her hands down, Lara's head falls back to look up at the sky, "shit…" she uses both of her hands to rub her face, "they'll do anything to get what they want," she looks at Tahir.

Nodding, he glances at the villagers, "they're okay, I trust Eli and her documents," slowly Lara watches the weight lifting from their shoulders. The fear isn't leaving their eyes as they go back to their business, because the nightmare is not yet over, she looks back at Tahir and he motions for her and Liam to come inside the hut.

Picking up their weapons and putting them away instantly, they step into the small hut. One bed in the far corner, a table at the other end with two chairs, a chest at the foot of the bed, a shelving unit to the left of the door going in that has pots, dishes and mugs, a large basin of water sitting on top and a large tub to the far right of the door. All of the wood is oak and aged, "They took everyone's valuables, medical supplies, half of their food, weapons, you name it," Tahir says and takes the chair on the left at the table. Lara takes the one on the right and Liam stands just behind Lara while the older man stays outside with everyone else.

The table is very old, lots of cuts and cracks to show the ware and tare. Resting her hands on top of the rough surface, she looks at Tahir closely, "what can you tell me about the Wings of Darkness?"

He sighs and rubs his eyes with his index and thumb fingers slowly, "I got them just over two days ago, all I knew was not to touch them and not to put them into water," he pulls his hand down to look at her and then Liam seriously. "They're poisonous to the touch… and there's no way anyone is finding them," he sits back in his chair to get a little more comfortable and points his right index finger at Lara. "What will you do with them if you get your hands on them?"

His eyes are dark, she stares into his eyes as he asked the question, this is no trick, and it is a cut through the bull shit to get to the point. Clasping her fingers together, without blinking and no reason to lie, "I honestly don't know. I found a different artifact just as powerful and dangerous before. It was called the Divine Source, it could cure, heal, you name it but the closer I got to finding it the more I learned about it… the truth came out that it was not Divine," she wets her lips and sits back in her chair and watches his reactions. "It was used to create an army… a Deathless army, Trinity was killing all who got in their way to find it," she purses her lips, her mind drifting to Sofia, remembering her running in the snow from the soldiers. Looking back at Tahir, "in the end… I destroyed the Divine Source as I realized it was too powerful," leaning forward and placing her right hand onto the table almost in a chopping motion, left hand on her left thigh. "I realized that if we take away all of the death, then we lose what it is to be human, to die is a part of being human," she takes a slow breath and looks at her hand on the table.

"I don't know what I'll do with the Wings of Darkness," looking back up at him to make eye contact, "all I know is I cannot let them land into the hands of Trinity."

Footsteps are heard and Liam looks over to see the older man stepping in, he'd been standing in the doorway silently as Lara spoke and regards them carefully. "The Wings of Darkness never should have been brought here for safe keeping, another fact in the matter is… there is no safe place for them to be kept," he watches Lara turn and face him. His eyes darken, "I want those wings out of Columbia, my son tells you where he hid them and he takes no further part in any more of this. Understand?"

Lara nods, "of course, I don't want your people getting terrorized any further by Trinity." She turns to Tahir, "I do have one question for you though," at this he blinks in confusion.

"Just one?" Tahir smiles jokingly to try and lighten the situation.

Smiling back at him, happy that he is in good humour still after everything he'd endured, "how did you know Eli?"

Wetting his lips he nods, "Eli came to Columbia a few times; he was studying certain archeological areas. He hired me to be his guide, we got along really well and I learned a lot from him. He taught me about his studies, I taught him about survival in the wild, we had a mutual respect so when he called and asked for a favour I had no reason to say no…" his eyes wander to the table briefly. "He told me right away 'you cannot say yes straight away… I need to tell you about the risks first'," he looks up at Lara and then Liam. "Eli didn't hide anything from me; I just don't believe either of us was prepared for the gravity of the situation that had landed in our laps."

Nodding in understanding, knowing that the artifact is very dangerous is one thing, knowing the kinds of people out there who'll do _anything_ to get their hands on it is another. Leaning forward towards Tahir, "where are the Wings of Darkness located?"

Looking at his father, Tahir nods and the older man walks to the shelving unit to move the plates and bowls to the top of the unit. Taking the shelf from the far ends he tugs carefully and slides the shelf out, holding it in his left hand he goes to the far right side and squeezes his fingers into a small gap to pull out a folded piece of paper. Placing the paper between his lips he puts the shelf back before turning around and opening it to reveal a map of the terrain to the whole area. He walks back to return the dishes to the shelf while Tahir leans in and starts to point around the map.

"You need to climb up and over our mountain here, but you must be careful as there are wild boar and other dangerous animals in these parts. You'll need to make your way around the mountain this way," he makes a line with his finger to go around the left side. "When you get around you'll find this area here is pretty dry, it is very steep and covered in rocks, be careful not to fall down as you could easily crack your head open," he moves his finger along lower. "You'll then need to get to the bottom and go up this area here, it is almost like a jungle here just like where we are now, but there is a stream. If you can find that it will lead you to a waterfall, it isn't huge, you have to climb up those rocks and there will be a crevice that is hidden by the lush plants there. No matter what time of year it is concealed," he sits back, "there is a hidden tunnel within the rocks there," looking at Lara, "you can most likely fit," he looks at Liam, "you not so much," he wavers his hand like 'maybe.'

"It sits inside of an aluminum box, I think that is what Eli said," he shrugs, "whatever won't rust in the water, and inside of the tin box is the wings in a fully sealed 'snap and click' I think he said glass and plastic container just in case there is water that gets inside somehow." He watches the gears turn in her mind, as she's working out her plan, he chuckles, "this isn't your second rodeo."

Her eyes snap up at him and she smiles, "no… it isn't," she sits back and rests her chin in her right hand, deep in thought. "There's no way that Trinity will just leave you be… they have a hidden agenda for you I know it," biting her bottom lip she listens to Liam as he starts walking around the room.

"Your right about that," Liam says and looks at the older man, with a straight face, "how long would it take to evacuate the village?"

The older man almost jumps, "evacuate? Why should we leave our homes? Those men who came here have gone already," he argues and Liam walks over to him, pointing to the door.

"Are those your people out there? Do you take care of them?" Liam asks and the man nods firmly, "then you need to do what is best for all of you. You need to evacuate from the village and go into town or something till all of this blows over. Those men will be back," he points at the older man now, "and they will kill all of you, they don't care how many they have to murder to get their hands on those wings." He looks around the small hut, "what more do you have to lose? They've taken the things you need to survive, all that is left are things that can be replaced, rebuilt… but lives cannot be replaced."

His eyes go downcast, looking crestfallen the older man nods, "I know your right… I… I just didn't want my people to give up what they made here," he looks up at Liam and then glances at Tahir and Lara. "I'll get them organized outside, you still have half a day left to trek and it's going to take a while to get to the Wings of Darkness, best to get a move on," with that the older man walks out of his hut.

Tahir looks at Lara and pushes the map towards her, "take this with you; I know you probably have it memorized but I don't want Trinity to get their hands on it either."

Nodding firmly, Lara folds up the map and puts it into her left thigh pocket, she stands up with Tahir and the three walk out of the hut to hear some of the villagers protesting. Tahir turns to Lara and Liam, "I will help my father, best of luck to the both of you," he takes Lara's right hand and gives it a firm shake before turning to Liam and doing the same thing.

"Thank you," Liam smiles and with that they both turn and start to head to the woods again, a small footpath to take that no doubt the villagers use for hunting.

Moving along, the terrain slopes up and up, having to use some of the trees to just touch as they maneuver their feet and angle their bodies to adjust to the climb. Stepping over tree roots that are protruding out of the ground more than the ones they encountered earlier, Lara watches as a butterfly flutters past her and has her look ahead at what looks to be a rock wall. Once closer, feeling the sweat building up on her upper and lower back, as well as on her chest, she scrunches up her nose at the feel of it dripping between her breasts.

Reaching the rocks she glances around to find foot holds and spots to slip her fingers into. Wasting no time she starts to climb, sticking the point of her boot into a crevice, hearing the crunch of dirt as she wiggles it in, "they climb this rock often," Lara comments as Liam watches her.

"What makes you say that?" Liam asks and she smiles.

"I'm confident you know the answer to that already," she looks over her shoulder at him to see a smirk on his face.

"Wear marks," Liam winks and watches her lift herself off the ground to find a spot for her left hand to slip around and grip before looking down to find a groove for her right foot to slip into. _Damn Croft… the way you look and the way you move… no matter what you make it look sexy_ Liam thinks to have a small pebble hit him on the forehead. He blinks and realizes he is now falling behind due to his activity of just watching his boss move.

"Hope I'm not moving too fast for you," Lara quips, looking up at the length of wall that she has yet to scale, frowning to herself at it. Her right hand moves up the rough rock with bits of marble and graphite in it. She feels around for what she cannot see and feels a flat part of rock that she can clamp her hand onto, feeling her left hand around she finds a small curve in the rock. It isn't very deep, but it'll have to do for some minor support as she pushes up from her left knee to see that she has in fact reached a ledge.

"Is this… the same one?" Lara wonders to herself, having seen a rock ledge from the village that looked like it was a steep climb to reach. Moving her left hand up to the ledge as well she uses her upper body strength to lift herself, her knees rising together and slipping up and over the edge. Turning herself around, she smiles at the sight, "this is a nice view," she lets her right leg dangle over the edge for a moment as Liam's hand finally clamps onto the edge.

"You didn't need to slow down for me," Liam teases, pulling his left hand up to the edge and Lara backs up to give him space to hoist himself up. Pulling his right knee up first and then swiveling himself to kneel and sit next to her, his eyes light up at the view. "This… I could get used to," he beams, and looks over at Lara to see she is enjoying the sight for the moment as well.

Her eyebrows knit together and she is able to make out the villagers filing together, most have their belongings and are leaving while some are sitting in chairs out front of their homes.

"You cannot help it Lara, we've done what we could for them," Liam says, knowing she's thinking about the innocent people below them.

Giving a small sigh, Lara stands up and Liam follows suit, she rubs the back of her neck and looks to her right to see the path leading around the major part of the mountain that Tahir had told her about. Looking back out at the village she closes her eyes.

 _I know I cannot protect everyone_ she thinks as she starts to walk along the path with Liam behind her. _All I can do is warn them and hope that the majority of them take the warning as the threat it truly is. Yes I am an outsider, but I have Tahir and his father to back me._ She looks over her shoulder at Liam who is looking up at the sky as she finally realizes an angry squirrel is chirping away at them.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be out of your territory soon enough," Liam grunts and Lara smirks.

"Making friends with the wild animals?" Lara teases him and he chuckles at the comment.

"Why yes, from little caterpillars to grumpy squirrels," Liam answers and reaches up to a tree branch that has grown out from a couple of boulders. He watches her continue along, "so long as the day ends with a smile on your face, it will have been a good one Croft."

To Be Continued…

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Please review! I want to know your thoughts! What are you enjoying? What do you want to see more of? What do you find boring? Please let me know.


	6. Sofia

I'm sorry it's taken so long to post this chapter, I've been really wrapped up in my YouTube mini series, but now that my hubby and I are preparing to move into our first house I have more time to focus on the sequel ^_^ The next couple of chapters have already been written.

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Blinking the sweat from her eyes, the heat and humidity is beating down on her, regretting not wearing shorts as her form fitting cargo pants are not releasing the heat. Her upper chest, belly and all down the middle of her back are glistening in sweat. Hands are dirty from the tree branches and rocks she's been holding for support, her pony tail is swishing back and forth on her upper back and her bangs are curling and getting stuck to her forehead.

She reaches up to wipe at her forehead, and thus rubbing some dirt on there as she looks out at the new view. Some bushes on this very steep climb down, lots of rocks and boulders, tall weeds and the odd tree here and there, the terrain looks quite uneven as it goes up and down in juts here and there all the way to the bottom. Across from the bottom is a stream leading to the next giant hill full of lush forest, the next mountain that the waterfall should be within.

"Phew… he wasn't kidding," Liam says as he too is soaked in sweat and regretting his attire, having unbuttoned his khaki shirt and tied it around his waist to wear a navy, sleeveless shirt under and cargo pants like herself. "I should have learned from our last adventure together… technically together," he waves off the last bit and reaches to his belt to pull off his water bottle and takes a few gulps. Making sure to conserve.

Lara removes her own bottled water to take a couple of gulps, savouring the taste, feeling uncertain about replenishing in the creek. However she knows she'll take a dip in the creek to help cool herself off, with her clothes already sticking to her all over, why not dive in?

 _I could call and ask about the water here, I don't know if they need to boil their water here or not, I forgot to check… I was in such a rush to get here before Trinity and Frutana Corp._ Mentally she kicks herself, "I forgot to check to see if we need to boil the water here before we drink it or not."

Smirking at her back as they start to step around the rocks, he keeps his hands up and manoeuvres himself to balance with some of his steps due to how uneven the ground is. "We sadly have no way of boiling it," he answers and watches her hop onto a large rock, get her balance right away and step down carefully. "What do you plan to do with it?"

Side stepping around a large rock, and moving around a large thick bush, Lara crouches down to place her hand on the rock she's standing on to do a small jump down to the dry grass below. "I don't know honestly… knowing that it is responsible for hundreds of deaths over time doesn't exactly keep it in the favour of staying in tact for long. At the same time… do I have the right to go and destroy my third artifact in a row?"

Chuckling, Liam follows behind her but jumps down next to her, slipping slightly, "technically the Wings of Light are your third artifact and you haven't destroyed them the last time I checked." At this Lara nods in recognition.

"True… I threw away the Golden Hand of Midas to keep it out of greedy hands, now I have two companies on the hunt for the Wings of Darkness that is far worse than the hand. I wish I could protect it from anyone using it ever again," Lara says and at the same time hears and watches a bullet ricochet off the rock in front of her. "Shit! Where are they?" she asks and hurries to the boulder in her path just ahead of her, leaping over it to the other side for cover and whips out her bow.

Liam follows behind her, leaping on top and then jumping down gracefully on the other side, no sense in doing a flip when you don't know what you're about to land on. He spins around, pulling out his gun and looking over the rocks, surveying the area above them, in the corner of his eye he sees Lara is doing the same thing with her bow, two arrows drawn and pulled taught.

Both of their eyes widen, out of the tree line, 21 soldiers step out with guns, Lara's heart starts to race at the implications before her. "We can't take them all on… we can't fight them here… we have to run," Lara whispers to him and he looks at her.

Feeling an adrenaline rush starting to pump into his system, fight or flight, his eyes dart back to the men starting to walk towards them. "We need to take out as many of them as we can, take turns; shoot then turn and start to run, hear the next shot then you turn and shoot again. We cannot afford to trip up on the way down, got it?" he asks, feeling his training kicking in, knowing that it is going to be risky to put their backs to the men ahead of them. At the same time they're sitting ducks.

"Got it… I'll go first, I've already got two arrows drawn… when I say go," Lara says and Liam nods, knowing she'll be able to see the nod in the corner of her eye. She lines up her arrows with the two that are in plain sight, nothing to obscure her marks, feeling a bead of sweat drip down along her left temple and she releases.

Each of her targets gets an arrow in the chest and that opens the flood gates, every man lifting their guns and opening fire. Lara turns to put her back to the boulder, slinging the bow over her head and starts her hustle by taking two large steps and leaping, she listens to Liam fire off two rounds.

A man gets nicked in the arm and the other gets shot in the throat, his hands reaching up to try and stem the blood that starts gushing out instantly. The other soldiers keep going as though nothing has happened, pausing with shooting to move around the rocks and not wanting to get tripped up in their attack.

Lara lands on a patch of dry grass and turns around, whipping her bow out and taking out three arrows this time all while Liam is now jumping down and just catches himself in his landing. Liam drops to his side to slide off a large boulder and takes cover behind it.

She lines up her targets as fast as she can, releasing just as a bullet flies past her right ear, the sound sending a chill up her spine and sending goose bumps to rise up along her arms and her back. She only lets her eyes linger for a second as one arrow hits a guy in the middle of the chest, another in the face and making him topple over backwards as he was working on stepping onto a large rock and the third one nails the guy in the throat.

Standing up Liam pulls out his gun again as Lara turns around to see where he's at and feels the muscles in her legs pumping as she runs to jump off next to him, seeing some small chunks of grass to the left and fewer rocks she takes off. Bouncing down the mountain as fast as she can while listening to Liam firing, glancing over his shoulder to see if she's gotten cover yet. He watches her spin around with her bow; he turns around and decides to take the path to the right, a pile up of rocks almost as though a landslide happened.

He jumps, being as nimble as he can, arms out for the balancing act of stepping on rock points, then onto rocks that aren't in place and leaping onto a larger one, he stops to spin around. He watches three more of the men fall and the soldiers are not even half the distance anymore. _How'd they close the gap so damn fast?_ His mind screams in frustration.

Lara then feels it, a bullet goes off the outside of her left thigh as she turned to start moving away, she gasps and falls to her knee briefly, planting her right hand onto her good leg she forces herself to stand up and run. She moves between two bushes and runs to fall and slide off a boulder and hit the ground with a thud to her back, hearing footsteps gaining on her as Liam fires off more rounds.

Feeling dread build up in his gut, especially when he heard Lara gasp, he watched her go down partially and then pushes herself to keep going. Keeping an eye on her in the corner of his eye until she was relatively in safety. He looks ahead to see a group of them closing in on him and getting better cover as they do so.

Firing off two more rounds before turning and immediately almost toppling over due to the oddly shaped rock he steps on, in the distance Lara has her arrows pulled and looks over at Liam. Her eyes widen when she sees a soldier climb up onto the rocks, he is scrambling after Liam, slipping and fumbling with his footing as he launches himself.

Turning her first arrow, she pulls it taught and lets it fly, watching the arrow fly, she doesn't need to watch it make its mark. Liam hears a thud and bones cracking, he spins around while whipping his gun out to see the soldier on his side, with an arrow in the side of his head, turning his attention to Lara he watches her attention for a second that she is focused on the guys in front of her.

She can hear her heart beating in her ears as she turns to view two soldiers barreling around the rocks, the one pulls his handgun out and lifts it. Using her last arrow Lara lets it fly to nail him between the eyes, but as he flops onto the ground, his friend emerges from behind and launches himself at her.

Liam turns back around, the base of the mountain is almost within their grasp, he jumps off the last of the rock pile to hear Lara grunt and to hear a thud. He looks over to see the second soldier has tackled her, hands on her shoulders into the ground behind her; she has used the momentum to her advantage and flips him up and over her head.

Lifting his gun as he gets his footing to shoot the guy, his gun is thrust upwards by a set of hands, he looks up just in time to get an elbow in the nose, blood flowing from it right away. He doesn't let it distract him, he releases his grip with his right hand and grabs the shoulder for the elbow that hit him and yanks him into him, slamming his right knee into his gut. The man wraps his arm around Liam's waist and effortlessly lifts him upside down, this startles Liam and then the man tosses him the last few feet to the bottom of the mountain. Smacking his head on the grass ground, grunting he looks up to see the man barreling down to him.

Lara meanwhile looks up to see her assailant flip to his feet and charge at her just as she gets to her feet, her mind racing as he swings his right fist for her head, she evades and he oversteps. Taking advantage of this she spins to kick him in the back with a sideways kick; he staggers further and braces himself against the boulder she was using for cover. She goes for her gun, pulling it out as he barrels into her, knocking her onto her back and her gun falls to topple a couple feet away. He then straddles her and looks down at her with a grin.

Fear creeps into her mind, this guy is huge and he has total advantage over her, "well Croft… looks like my employer over estimated you," he sneers and pulls back his right fist. Fear gripping her heart, her blood running cold as her hands feel around the ground frantically, her left hand finds a pointed rock. Wasting no time she smashes it into the side of his head as he brought his fist down to punch her, her hit knocking his head to the side and making his fist miss easily. He partially falls onto her and slumps back to look at her, dazed, she forces herself to move onto her right side and looks up at her gun.

Meanwhile Liam has been rolling on the ground with the last soldier, the man pulls out his knife and Liam shoves him off, flipping to his feet as the guy does the same thing. His hands open, legs apart in a stance ready for whatever the other guy throws his way. _Come on… come on… we need to finish this_ he thinks and the guy finally lunges at him, bringing the knife down.

Catching his wrists, Liam clenches his teeth as he feels the guy is stronger than himself, but he still pushes, the soldier putting more force into bringing it towards Liam's head. Thinking fast, Liam side steps on a set of rocks, moving to the side and letting the guy use his own force against himself. Swinging and shoving the knife into the soldiers abdomen, the guy grunts and tumbles forward onto his face.

Liam then steps over him and onto a rock as he turns to check on Lara, the rock he is stepping on shifts, flopping over and his ankle twinges, making him go down onto his knee awkwardly.

Digging her toes, knees and fingers into the ground as she pulls out from under him, feeling breathless as he grunts and grabs for her right thigh. "You're not going anywhere!" he cries, but his speech is slurred, her fingers grasp for the gun frantically, brushing against the steel of the handle, she feels him holding her down again, putting pressure onto her lower back. Her heart feels like it is going to burst through her chest, a gunshot rings out and she hears the man fall to the ground with a thud.

Resting her head on the ground briefly she looks over at Liam to see him kneeling on the ground awkwardly. "Thanks… are you okay?" Lara asks and sits herself up, checking on her leg to see only a bit of blood coming out, nothing serious.

Grunting, Liam looks up the mountain that they were rushed down, "I did a dummy… get all the way to the bottom and that's when I pull the dummy," he stands up and hobbles along. Lara stands up slowly, brushing herself off, she feels her heart rate start to slow but her adrenaline is still on a high, she looks at him and raises her right brow.

"You twisted your ankle?" Lara asks and he nods, turning around to see the creek just a few more feet away she walks over to Liam, taking his left arm and moving it around her shoulders. She helps walk him to the creek, he doesn't grunt, he doesn't whimper, he pushes through it like she knows guys do.

Within less than a minute they reach the flowing creek and she helps him to sit down, before them in the thick woods again. He undoes his laces, tugs the boot off and grunts at the discomfort while removing his sock, placing his foot in the cold water, relieving the pain that was beginning to build up.

He sighs happily, looking up at Lara as she heaves a sigh, stretches her limbs as she stands up, "soak your ankle," she looks behind them at the mountain they left. The sun is causing a beautiful amber glow to be cast over everything as it is setting, for the first time since getting shot at she's feeling the temperature dropping. Returning her attention to Liam, "I'll get you a crutch, keep soaking your ankle," she starts into the woods.

Doing a solute, "yes Ma'am!" he smiles, sitting back a little, feeling the sweat that soaked his clothes now feeling a refreshing cool as well. He unties his shirt from around his waist and drops it into the water, soaking it up to wring out above his head and clean up his face.

As Lara walks into the woods, she can hear the crickets chirping, the little feet scurrying about, the flashes of some of the eyes as they spot her in the dark. Slipping into the creek she kneels in it, letting the cool water help wake her and allow her adrenaline to ease away. The sound of the water flowing is soothing to her ears, nothing else around her but nature.

Eyes adjusting to the dark, Lara knows she'll need more than night vision to help her in these thick woods and pulls out a glow stick, snapping it and shaking vigorously she holds it up. Stepping out of the creek which is flowing through many large rocks, she smiles as she spots a large tree branch lying across the rocks. Snapping the glow stick to her hip she walks through the water, not caring that her shoes are soaked _you've been through worse_.

Picking up the branch, she gives it a quick look over to be sure it isn't about to snap as soon as he puts pressure onto it, turns and walks back to find him dabbing himself off with his soaked shirt. "Where's the concierge soap?" Lara asks and Liam makes a thinking face and looks over his shoulder at the mountain.

"Shit, I think it must have fallen out of my pocket somewhere on the hill," he runs his left hand through his hair and in the corner of his eye watches Lara scoop up water into her hands and splash her face. Turning to look at her, "you can use my shirt if you want, it isn't covered in sweat like this one is," he indicates his sleeveless.

She shakes her head, "I'll be fine," she looks over at him and smiles, the amber glow giving him a nice outline, his smile relaxes her. _He's got my back and I've got his… he proved that today. Not that I doubted it_ she reminds herself and splashes herself again. She looks back into the woods and frowns, "we need to keep moving," she looks at him and he nods.

He stands up slowly while taking the branch from her and moving it under his armpit, and picking up his shoe and sock with his other hand. They start to go up along the creek, following the outer edge of the rocks and into the dark woods. Having her gun drawn, Lara keeps an eye ahead of them for any animals or anyone from Trinity, not wanting to get ambushed, her eyes darting left, up and right.

The deeper they get the more the ground starts to slope up and she can hear the waterfall in the distance, the light of the sun escaping with only the light from the glow stick to show her the way. Hands are steady, she listens to his steps behind her, his breathing is even and they stay quiet.

Lara gives a small shudder as the night air feels like it wraps itself around her, sending chills up and down her spine, hearing the waterfall getting closer. A rustle of leaves to the left startles her, she swings her gun out in the direction to see nothing there _could have been any number of little critters coming out at night_.

Feeling the cool mist of the waterfall Lara finally sees the pool of water and glances around to be sure no one is watching. "I'm going to dive in to see if there are any passages," she turns to face him, "think you'll be okay on your own for a little bit?"

Chuckling, Liam nods, "yeah, I'll enjoy the view. Don't worry about me," he sets himself down onto one of the large rocks that are surrounding the pool of water to pull his sock and shoe back on.

Holstering her gun she takes a step onto one of the large rocks. Moving to the edge she looks into the pool, no idea how deep it is she takes a deep breath before diving in. The icy waters hitting her like doing a belly flop off the diving board, but not nearly as bad as jumping off the train tracks and into the ice water in Syria to avoid being shot up by a helicopter. The cold water chills her to the bone, but in a way that it almost soothes her. _Technically getting cleaned off from all the trekking and running today in the heat_.

Feeling thankful again for the glow stick as she swims around the pool of water and looks for any sign of a gap in the rocks. Lara feels around and starts to get pushed away from the far end due to the rush of the water from above, she goes lower, and lower till her hands touch the bottom and she looks up. Smiling to herself as she sees what looks to be a spot of black ahead, using the floor to help guide her she swims along to the opening that is a tight fit.

Extending her hands she grips the rock on both sides and pulls herself through and along the little tunnel until she sees the water starting to brighten up just a tad. Looking up she sees she is in a small cave behind the falls _how is it I keep finding caves or cave systems behind waterfalls?_ She wonders as she angles herself up and kicks till her face is met with air. Gasping she looks around, seeing her breath just a tad in front of her as she glances around at her surroundings. There is a jagged edge to the far side which is probably about a 10 by 10 foot little cave, she swims over to the ledge and her eyes land on it.

An aluminum box latched shut with a lock; she reaches up to pull her bangs behind her ear as she gets closer and examines the ledge. "You aren't overly long or wide… but for the time being you'll be our bed for tonight," she shudders, takes a deep breath and goes back into the water.

Meanwhile Liam has been enjoying the sounds of the forest, his gun drawn as the last thing he wants is to be rushed by a wild boar. Not having seen Lara pop up within less than a minute told him that she found something, he wets his lips _please be safe Lara… I know you work fine on your own, but now that I'm a gimp I don't like being unable to protect you._ He almost jumps when her head emerges from the water, "I take it you found a room for us?" he jokes, remembering her comment about the soap.

Nodding, "yes, come on in," she smiles and goes back under. He wastes no time to dive in, happy to have the cold water on his ankle again. When his head breaks the surface on the other side he almost whistled, but knows it'll echo and alert anyone who could be trying to find them outside to get a closer lock on their location.

Lara hoists herself up on the ledge and moves so her back is to the wall, watching Liam pull himself out of the water, giving only minor grunts as he gets onto his knees and sees the box. He does a double take and looks at Lara, "really?" he whispers and she nods, "have you looked inside?" Turning himself he pushes the box closer to the back corner to give more space to lie down.

Placing her hands onto her lap, Lara shakes her head, "no… I will in the morning," she answers and he looks at her quizzically.

Propping himself up on his elbows and letting his bad ankle go over the edge to sit in the cool water, "you trust Tahir that much?" he asks in curiosity.

Looking down at the pool of water they just swam through, her mind going back to the conversation she had earlier that day with Tahir and his father. "Yes…" she reaches into her left thigh pocket to pull a granola bar out, opens it and takes a bite out of mint chip, Cliff bar. "I saw it in his eyes, and even when we left I continued to see the fear in their eyes. They're terrified of the Wings of Darkness and they're terrified for their own people… his father wants it gone and in the morning I'll make that choice."

Taking out his own granola bar they both eat in silence, not realizing how hungry they are until taking their first bites. Taking only a couple of mouthfuls of their water to preserve it, knowing there is still the trek back to deal with.

Her adrenaline rush gone, her body feeling fatigued even though she hasn't done nearly as much as she usually does while out on an adventure. _I haven't been chased by a helicopter, a gun torrent, missiles, a bear… no hanging on by the skin of my teeth to survive_ she unlatches her glow stick to move it to the wall. _Thankfully those things can go for over an hour usually_ she looks down at Liam as he pulls his foot out of the water and rotates his foot.

"Come and lie down with me, we're both soaked and need to rely on each other's body heat to stay warm," Liam says and Lara nods knowing there's no way to make a mini fire in there. That and there's nowhere for the smoke to go so they'd be suffocating themselves for heat _brilliant deduction_.

Lara moves onto her left side along his right side and smiles down at him, he smiles back and for the first time in a while she takes in his cute smile. Resting on her elbow she continues to look at him, her eyes traveling along his jaw line, his lips to his nose and resting on his eyes. Even though she cannot see every detail in the dim glow of the yellow glow stick, she will admit she does find him quite handsome.

His dark hair, five o'clock facial hair, chiseled body, and as her eyes come to rest on his she stares into them. _These eyes once held a job… chained to the ceiling and his hands moving my shirt up to threaten to sexually assault me for information… then his words 'I don't do that' before lowering my shirt. Now… I see something different in his eyes… he's dedicated to helping me, to protecting me. But there is something else there too_ she continues to stare into his eyes as he stares right back.

"You're attracted to me…" Lara whispers and Liam nods, reaching up his left hand to caress her right cheek. But as his hand touches, her heart aches, watching his eyes she reaches her right hand up to take his hand. She holds it for a moment before gently pulling it away and seeing a small look of confusion in his eyes, "my heart is with Sofia."

Giving a soft smile, Liam nods, "I understand… come, let us get some rest," he lets his left hand rest on his chest. He watches her lower her head onto his chest and he wraps his right arm around her back, it doesn't take long for Lara to feel the comfort of his body heat and her eyes already growing heavy. "She is a lucky woman," Liam whispers.

Lara smiles, her hand resting on his chest as her mind forms Sofia's face, feeling a longing to look into her eyes and get lost in them. "We're both lucky."

To Be Continued…

* * *

Phew! I hope you liked what happened here. In the end I feel too strong a pull towards Lara and Sofia, but for those who'd like to see Lara and Liam there will be an alternate ending for this chapter. Please review! I love reading them! While I was writing the action scene I kept playing "Remains" by Algiers over and over, I heard it on The 100.


	7. Waiting

The air is quiet on the mountain; whoever is walking about is doing it silently, soldiers sitting in trees with their guns at the ready. Some are on patrol going through the woods, single file, not wanting to make their presence overly obvious. A figure sits on the cliff edge, olive BDU shirt buttoned up most of the way, sleeves rolled up, olive BDU pants, combat boots, a combat knife strapped to his right calf.

Red embers glow brightly as he takes in a drag of his cigar; the glow lightly shows his face, chiselled face, square jaw, his buzzed head is showing that he usually has a full head of dark brown hair. A small amount of stubble on his face, his piercing blue eyes are glowing in the moon light above his head, pulling the cigar out, he lets out a slow breath.

In front of him, the smoke exhaled covers the village before him, a few villagers going about their business. His eyes watch the rotating boar in the middle, a couple of wagons have taken a path to another village that is just over a mile away, taking the cigar between his teeth he rests his left hand onto his knee, letting it sit there comfortably.

He listens as a set of footsteps approach him from behind, they're heavy and with purpose _not Croft_ he sums up right away.

"Commander Vincent Yarinhov," a formal young soldier addresses him; he's looking off into the distance, not down at his boss.

Taking his cigar out he blows the smoke out and continues to watch the villagers below. "What do you have to report?" Yarinhov's voice is deep with an edge to it. Straight to business, he doesn't care about formality most of the time.

"The group you sent for Croft is dead; we've gathered their effects from their bodies. There's been no sign of her since or her partner," he reports and Yarinhov uses the hand holding the cigar to use his index and middle fingers to drum on his chin.

"If she has a fire going, it'll be concealed mostly by rocks, but that is even a risk in itself. She won't draw attention to herself… bring the old man to me," Yarinhov instructs and listens to the young man's footsteps to move away. He runs the tip of his tongue along his top front teeth slowly in thought.

 _You weren't bright about her Fernando Huites… too focused on the mission. Yes you had a time constraint but you didn't utilize your man power. This is why you were at the bottom of ranks, you were all about the money, now your six feet under and Lara Croft is running about_ he grins to himself. He takes a slow drag of his cigar as he listens to shuffling feet and solid feet, Yarinhov doesn't turn to see Tahir's father as he is shoved to his knees near him.

"Do you know what I see?" Yarinhov asks as he watches the other villagers continue about their routines, oblivious to the fact that the old man was taken out of his home against his will.

Tahir's father glares at Yarinhov's head, "death," he sneers and this earns a light chuckle from Yarinhov.

Wetting his lips, "I see wasted potential, the land is prosperous, vegetation is bountiful, and you have the means to make it great. But," he takes a breath, "you don't."

Staring at the man who ordered his capture, "what do you want with me?"

Looking up at the moon briefly, Yarinhov studies its glow, "to take in your little village, view it for the last time. Your people, your home, everything you have worked every day of your life to preserve and keep going for years… take a good long look. You sent Croft off to get the Wings of Darkness." Standing up slowly, Yarinhov looks at Tahir's father; he isn't backing down from the larger man, "she has an," he lets his hand flutter in the air, "air about her that allowed you to trust her, doesn't she?"

He waits a few seconds and when he gets so response he smiles, "you saw right through me," Yarinhov takes a long drag of his cigar, watching the older man and gets into his face. Pulling the cigar out he blows the smoke into his face, "in the end, I always get what I want," looking at his soldier, "take him back to his tent.

The older man doesn't struggle, he walks with the soldier as he knows there is no point. He won't get free of his grasp, and alerting his people right now will get them killed.

Yarinhov watches him go and turns back to the village below, placing his cigar back between his teeth he watches the people below grab some of the boar from the stick holding it up. "Your move Croft."

* * *

Sunlight is streaming through the small gap that might be just big enough for Lara to go through just above their heads. Squinting at the small amount of light coming through, Lara sits herself up slowly, taking in the fresh air that is filling her lungs and she smiles.

"You know," Liam whispers, unsure as to if there is someone outside the rocks, able to listen in, "we could have continued on foot through the night."

Lara moves to sit on her knees as she turns her attention to the Wings of Darkness, taking a deep breath she uses the butt of her handgun to break the lock off. Opening the case and she looks inside. "I know, I've done it before, but with something as dangerous as this… I didn't want to chance being jumped in the night," she lifts the glass container with the snap and seal sides.

Setting it down she gets a better view of it, just like the Wings of Light, these wings look like onyx, detailed feather etchings throughout the wings. "It's hard to believe something so beautiful can cause so much pain," Liam whispers and then he looks at Lara. "Have you decided what you're going to do with it?"

Taking a deep breath, Lara stares at it _no… I haven't. And time is up, I need to act now with whatever I'm going to do and get it out of Columbia_ she purses her lips before wetting them. _I don't want to risk another soul getting harmed by them, but at the same time, is that really my decision to make? I made a brash decision the last time to destroy the golden hand of Midas. Is that who I really want to be remembered as? Someone who finds these artifacts and each time they are deemed too dangerous and that I want to keep them out of the wrong hands I destroy it? Yes I wish I could study the two sets of Wings. But not at the expense of harming others._

Closing her eyes briefly, "I'll destroy them, but we take the fragments with us," she looks at Liam who gives a nod. Not for approval, but that he is with her.

Unclasping each of the sides, Lara lifts up the glass the wings are sitting in and stands up, holding it above her head, she feels her muscles tense up as she takes a deep breath and gripping the sides tightly she turns it quickly and throws it down as hard as she can.

Liam and Lara watch as the wings break into seven large chunks, the gloss that was once there looks to have vanished. Feeling hesitant, Lara kneels down and Liam scoots himself closer, he reaches his hand out and Lara wants to grab his hand to tell him not to chance it, but at the same time she knows he'd rather her not risk her life over it.

They both watch as his out stretched fingers shakily reach the first chunk and after a moment of hesitation, Liam picks up the chunk, both of their hearts skip a beat.

Staring at the rock in his hand, Liam looks up at Lara and smiles, "let's get this out of here, shall we?" he suggests and she smiles, letting out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

Picking up the other six pieces, Lara looks at Liam to watch him pull a water resistant nylon webbed bag. They place the pieces inside the bag, taking out her water bottle; Lara takes a couple mouthfuls before reattaching it to her hip. "Just in case we're expecting an ambush, let's leave the broken wings here," Lara whispers, "When it's clear, I'll squeeze through the gap in the rocks to grab them."

Nodding in agreement, they set the bag down in the corner, looking at the water Lara takes a deep breath before diving in. The cold water chilling her to the bone again, flowing through her hair, making her clothes ripple about as she kicks her feet towards the bottom to find the opening, seeing the light shining through.

Reaching her hands out she guides herself along the passage and glances behind her to see Liam is following behind her, looking ahead again she can feel the force of the waterfall up ahead. Once coming out the waterfall pushes her down towards the bottom, her belly and knees just graze the bottom as she swims under the water and she feels the force help push her out from under. Pushing off the bottom with her boots, she arches her body up and within seconds feels the moist air kiss her face as she takes in her breath.

Gasping, she looks around immediately, hearing no voices, seeing no figures, she swims to the rocks and gets a grip to hoist herself up, the rock feeling warm from being in the sun. Glancing at her watch she sees it is 9:00a.m. "I actually slept in," Lara mumbles to herself and turns herself around to watch Liam break the surface, shaking his head and smiling at Lara as he swims to the same rocks.

"My ankle feels much better, maybe the cold water got the swelling down before it would get any worse," Liam comments and climbs out of the water.

Turning to face the woods, Lara stands up, not letting the fact that she's chilly get to her. Listening to the birds chirping again, watching the leaves in the trees move ever so slightly in the breeze, the feel of the mist from the waterfall on her back, the smell of the plants all around her and the water.

"Yeah… I missed this," Lara whispers to herself and turns to look at Liam who is sitting next to her now, he places his hands behind him on the rock he is sitting on.

"No internet, no traffic, no buildings reaching for the sky… it's peaceful," Liam adds as he looks up at the sky, enjoying the natural beauty of nature.

Taking in a deep breath, Lara stands up and looks down at the line up of rocks that grow narrow the further they go away from the pool of water they just swam out of. "Let's-" Lara is cut off by a bullet whizzing past her head. There was no mistakening that sound, that chilling feel that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, the goose bumps rising on your spine and arms like hearing a mosquito or bees next to your ear.

Turning her head to face the direction it came from, Lara unholsters her handgun, pointing it ahead and biting her bottom lip, there is too much cover for her foes, as she cannot see where they're hiding.

Liam stands up and whips his gun out as well, surveying their surroundings, "show yourselves you cowards!" he shouts as he walks till he is back to back with Lara. Their eyes skimming the branches, bushes, leaves, every rustle in the foliage, straining their eyes to see what their foes don't want them to see. "Do you really want to go down this road?" he asks.

One by one, a hand or a foot or a gun comes out from the leaves, both watch as men come out from all around them. Cocking her gun, Lara watches the first one who came into her line of sight lifts his gun, she fires, nailing him in the forehead; this opens the flood gates again the men start to open fire as Liam and Lara start shooting.

Shifting to kneel, Lara shoots another man in the shoulder, knocking him off balance as the dirt to her left foot explodes thanks to it, she turns to her left and shoots another in the chest. However a bullet catches her in her right bicep, she winces, but turns to her right to shoot the man in the knee cap making him cry out and collapse.

Rolling onto the ground to her left she spins to take cover behind a tree, mentally counting the bullets she has used and then watches as Liam shoots an oncoming mercenary in the chest twice before he falls down at his feet. Liam drops his gun and pulls his knife out as two other men come at him with their own knives out, turning to her right she is met with a rifle, she grabs the underside of the nozzle and shoves it up in time for the bullets to go off past her left ear.

She tries to yank the gun from his grasp but fails, so she swings her right elbow at his neck; he evades and pulls the gun from her grasp to swipe the butt of the gun across her face knocking her onto her right side and out of cover.

Meanwhile Liam dodged a knife coming down at him and kicks the other guy in the stomach, but when that soldier grabs his foot he jumps and spins to use the back of his steel toe boot on the back of the other guys head making him fall to his knees. Once Liam lands on his hands on the ground, he turns himself to flip back onto his feet and go for a round house, but the guy evades as the other starts to stand up just as Lara lands on the ground behind him.

Thinking fast, Liam whips his knife at the guy whose been standing and catches him in the thigh, the other stands up for Liam to grab the wrist with the knife and wrench it back. He punches the guy in the throat, making him start to choke due to a broken adams apple before Liam flips him onto his back.

Lara watches the guy step out from the bushes as her head starts to throb from the hit, she looks around to see her gun had been knocked from her hand in the fall and a thick branch at his feet. _Distract!_ Grabbing up at some dirt, she throws it into his face, but he just closes his eyes and shakes his head making it so he didn't see her stand up to charge at him with the branch, she swings it up and catches him in the jaw.

Turning to the guy who he had knifed, the man charges at him, slamming his shoulder into his abdomen and lifting Liam off his feet before throwing him into the large rocks behind him. The rocks spiking pain throughout his body and his head having gone off of one, he groans as his mind tries to grasp what is going on as the man lifts himself off and grabs the collar of his shirt and drags him to a deep enough spot between the rocks to push his head under.

Looking over her shoulder Lara sees that Liam is struggling under a man who has pinned him down on top of rocks, he is larger than the one she is dealing with and the ones she had shot in the knee and shoulder are starting to come for her. Returning her attention to the man in front of her, she takes one step back to swing the branch up at the underside of his jaw, making him slam the back of his head into the tree behind him. She brings the branch high above her head as he falls to his knees before her and slams it down onto his head.

The one she's shot in the shoulder cocks his gun next to her, "think you can move fast enough to avoid a bullet?" he asks and she listens to Liam thrashing about in the water. His lungs burning for air, begging for air and instead water is starting to get taken in. Fear is taking hold. He's trying to punch at the man's face, kicking his legs about, grabbing for his eyes but only managing to splash the water about.

Deciding not to answer she ducks and swings the butt of the branch up and hears the gun go off just before slamming the branch into his under arm. Looking at the knocked out soldier on the ground before her she yanks his rifle off of him, and spins around to shoot the man three times in the chest before the one she'd shot in the knee comes jumping up and over the rocks and gets three in the chest as well. His body falling onto the rocks he'd just tried to jump over.

That's when she sees it, that Liam has stopped struggling, _oh no… not you_ she feels her heart swell up in fear at the sight of his limp body under the mercenary holding him down. She stands up just as the mercenary looks over his shoulder at her. He turns around quickly, pulling out the knife that Liam had used on him earlier from the back of his belt; she lifts her gun and shoots him in the head making the knife clatter to the ground.

Slinging the gun over her head as she runs over to the soldier who drowned him, she grabs his tactical vest and lifts him just enough to pull his body off of Liam. Her hands frantic as she jumps to the other side of the rocks so she can move her hands under Liam's arm pits and lift him out of the water, digging her heels into the grassy dirt as she heaves his body out of the water and onto the even ground.

Her heart is racing as she quickly moves around to see his eyes are closed and mouth is open, she kneels onto the right side of his body and places her ear over his heart to listen. Feeling only the cold, soaked shirt under her ear she moves to his head and tilts his head up, pinches his nose closed before sealing her lips over his mouth and blowing into him.

Pulling away quickly she places her hands folded over his chest and starts pressing down _don't you go on me now Liam, we still have to get out of here_ she presses down ten times before going back to pinching his nose and blowing into his mouth. "Come on Liam! Breath!" Lara commands of him, watching his head roll back and forth each time she presses onto his chest, she watches his eyes anxiously, hoping that they'll shoot open. "Breath!" she yells and after another ten compressions she moves back to his head, breathing into him again.

She can feel her adrenaline starting to fade, "please don't do this to me Liam, you can't go… please come back to me," she says, her heart sinking as she continues to stare at his face. Closing her eyes, her body shakes as she clenches her hands and she screams as she brings her fist down onto his chest hard, and again, and again and water shoots out of his mouth.

Lara jumps as Liam start coughing up more water and she places her left hand under his under back to help him roll onto his left side, retching up the water from inside of his lungs. When he finally calms down enough he lies on his back again and looks up at Lara, his eyes teary and a little red, "L-Lara?" his voice horse as he looks up at him bleary eyed.

Letting out a breath, she nods as she puts her hand onto her lap, "welcome back," Lara smiles and he blinks up at her.

Sitting up slowly, he rubs at his eyes with his index and thumb, "shit…" he uses his left hand to touch his chest, "I think you may have bruised me," he pulls his fingers away to wink at her and she rolls her eyes. Moving to stand up, he reaches up to grab her left bicep, she looks down at him obviously irritated, "thank you, really," he looks her in the eye to see her anger diminishing, "seriously, thank you."

Nodding, "I'm glad to have you back," Lara says with a soft smile, and watches his eyes travel to her arm to see the blood that has been trickling out.

"Let's get you bandaged up before we do anything more," Liam suggests and reaches behind him to his pouch on the back of his belt that has some first aid supplies.

She stays kneeling as he moves onto his own knees and taking his own water bottle he pours some of it over the blood to see the bullet hole properly. Lara watches him, "I forgot it had happened honestly, when your thinking about survival you put your pain on the back burner and focus on the impending threat."

He smiles at her words, "that is true," he pulls out a long roll of gauze, "it went straight through, lucky as that would have been a pain to takeout… a pain for you more than me," he explains as he wraps it around her arm. Seeing no blood he keeps wrapping it until it is finished and tapes it down.

"I need to get the wings," Lara reminds him and Liam nods, he stands up with her and takes out his only other energy bar, opens it and takes a bite as she moves around the rocks that are around the falls. Moving around the bush, vines and branches that are obscuring her vision, she focuses on how deep she and Liam were and works out an approximate target and pushes into the foliage out of his view.

Pulling a cluster of vines out of the way that have grown into the rock, she grunts as she rips them out and finds the gap in the rocks, it is a tight fit, but she knows she has had worse. Looking down she finds a thick root to a nearby tree sticking up out of the ground and steps on that to get higher, just enough to reach the gap, her fingers feeling around the smooth edges for a spot to pull up from and finally anchor themselves into grooves.

Lifting herself up and using the tree behind her to push herself up higher she moves her right hand into the hole, reaching in to find another chunk of rock to grip and pull herself in, the gap is very tight with the rocks pressing in on her tiny form. Cold, damp rock as her arm slides in, she feels her shoulder and left ear getting pressed in. Using the toe of her boots to push herself in more, she finds herself wiggling, moving like a worm to get herself in deeper. She can see the end of the passageway, the light bouncing off the walls, "maybe I should have gone in under the falls," she mutters and feels her right hand come out to find open space.

Continuing to wiggle she plants her hand and then her arm onto the rock wall, looking down she sees the bag with the shattered wings. "Yeah, I'm swimming," she says to herself as she pushes with her right arm to have the upper half of her body come out and finally she falls onto her hands, doing a temporary hand stand before rolling onto her feet.

Kneeling down she picks up the bag and dives into the water, Liam sitting on the rocks, finishing off his energy bar looks at the waterfall in time to watch Lara's head pop up, he looks at her confused. "You didn't use the back door?"

Shaking her head as she gets out, taking and seat next to him she wrings out her hair, "no, way too tight," she says and sets the bag onto his lap. Taking out her last energy bar she watches him stare at the bag before turning his attention to her. "We're splitting up," she watches him open his mouth to protest, she holds up her left hand as she takes a bite, he closes his mouth and watches her, waiting for her to continue. "You wait in the woods here for say… 45 minutes with the bag. Then you go around the other way, in the direction the villagers were headed for refuge. We have no way of communicating with the pilot or anyone else, so we hope that the village they went to have a radio or phone or something, I will go back to see Tahir and tell him the wings are no more."

He purses his lips, "I don't like us splitting up… what if the leader catches you?" he watches her take another bite and then remove her water bottle from her hip.

Swallowing, and grateful for the boost, "if he catches me, he doesn't get the wings and right now they cannot stay where they were hidden," she takes another bite and points at the surrounding area. "They were waiting out here for us, they know it is in this area, they'll find it if I leave it here. I know… it should be safe now that it is broken, but at the same time I feel like I don't know enough about it… what if there is a possibility that they can put it back together? What if the Wings of Light can mend it and if it can destroy the Wings of Light? There's too many possibilities that I need to take into account and I don't know what other artifacts they have that can be possibly used with either of them," Lara takes another bite.

Liam goes silent, staring at the ground at his feet and he sighs, "Your right…" he looks at her, "I'll wait and give you 45 minutes before taking off for the other village."

Closing her eyes, Lara takes her last bite before taking a couple of mouthfuls of her water before reattaching it to her hip. Looking down the path of rocks from where they came from, she glances at the bodies around them and walks over to the one that she knocked out. Feeling around his vest she finds additional ammo clips for the assault rifle, she puts them into her thigh pants pockets before turning to look at Liam who is standing at the rocks, she can see it on his face that he still doesn't like the idea of her going off on her own. "Stick to the plan," she says firmly and starts down the path of the rocks.

* * *

To Be Continued…

What do you think? What are you predicting will happen next? What is Yarinhov going to do? What did you like and dislike from this chapter? I again had that song playing in the background as I wrote the action scene.


	8. Trinity

I do not own Tomb Raider, I wrote this for fans to enjoy.

* * *

Ducking her head under a low hanging branch, coming out into the clearing of the hill just beyond that they ran down. The shade the trees have given had cooled her considerably; pulling her water from her hip she takes a swig before reattaching it to her hip. She crouches behind the large tree, feeling exposed if she steps out, "they're expecting me…" she gives a small sigh before running her fingers through her hair and rubbing the back of her neck.

Looking up at the sky she leans against the tree and closes her eyes _Sofia… I wish you were here with me… what are you up to in your village? Will you wait for me to be done with this… I know there is more than likely going to be something else I'll want to chase, but if you're willing I'll take more time between adventures for you_ she opens her eyes and looks ahead. _I need to get through this first… I know I can do this_ she takes a deep breath and steps out.

Surveying the area ahead, the plant life, the bugs that are flittering around between leaves and flowers, a dragonfly buzzing by in the distance and movement in the taller grass. No way to tell if it is a soldier moving around on his stomach or an animal moving about, she continues on and starts to head up the hill. Noticing right away that all the bodies are gone, _should have grabbed ammo when I had the chance_ she purses her lips as she starts to climb the very rocks she had slid or climbed off earlier. The rock is cool, not yet warmed by the sun; she can hear the grass next to her blowing in the breeze just before it moves around her. The cool air is refreshing to the back of her neck as it sweeps through the hair of her pony tail.

Keeping an eye on her surroundings, Lara watches as a ladybug flies by in front of her nose, she smiles as it lands on a tall strand of grass next to her. Moving her attention back to the top of the hill she moves with determination, bounding up the hill, pushing up the steep hill, her legs propelling her up between the rocks. Adrenaline and excitement fueling her, if she can push it she'll be at the airfield by late afternoon. _I still need to figure out how to get a call out for a plane ride… I wonder if Liam will have better luck than me with that area. I have to get there_ she keeps her breathing even, pacing herself as her eyes constantly scan the tree line for an ambush.

The sole of her right boot comes down on something that snaps, but there is another set of snaps coming from her right and left, she freezes and looks down to see thin fishing line hidden within the tall grass and between the rocks. "Oh no," she breaths and starts running, not wanting to face whatever trap is set for her, a new sense of urgency fueling her muscles to go faster than she was before. Jumping up from large rocks, the sound of footsteps racing after her on both sides, but she doesn't dare to look because she knows she'll be screwed.

Palms are sweating as she races up, hearing voices shouting at her to stop, a bullet going off the rock next to her and another making a chunk of dirt and grass jump into the air at her feet. _They're missing on purpose, they can't kill me because of what I know_ she sums up, and watches as a grenade comes into view from over her head. It lands just above and beyond a small cluster of rocks and a patch of tall grass.

Lara hits the ground quickly, covering her head and balling herself up, the bang feels like it was just couple of feet above her head, dirt, grass and rocks fly everywhere and rain down on her. What she wasn't prepared for was the ringing that ensued, clutching at the sides of her head she rolls onto her back as she looks up at the sky. Groaning she tries to force herself to get up when a soldier stands over her, his face is covered, rifle in hand, he steps up and slams the butt of the gun into her head. Knocking her out and causing Liam to watch from behind a tree, having heard the gunshots he hurried along the rock path to the tree line in time to see Lara get hit. Gripping the tree he is crouched behind his eyes follow as the same man picks her up and slings her over his shoulder and they carry her up the hill and into the trees.

"I'm coming Lara, I won't leave you hanging like this," Liam mutters and makes sure there are no other soldiers lurking before coming out of hiding and running along the base of the hill. Keeping to the plan to go around the mountain to try and find the village that the people were sent to earlier.

* * *

Head is throbbing and bent to have her chin rest on her chest, her hands twitch to feel that they are bound, the ground is vibrating with footsteps as men walk by. Her butt is cold and back feels stiff from where she's been sitting for over an hour she figures, flexing her face a tad she feels cloth is covering her eyes so she wets her lips and notes her mouth is dry. Finger tips feel around and make contact with a pole, it feels cool to the touch and that's when she realizes she is not hot at all either, the pole is in the ground and feels like steel.

Voices around her, but they're too distant or hushed to make out anything _do I make myself known for being awake or wait it out?_ She wonders and feels a set of footsteps move up to her and stop, she knows the person is facing her and she waits for him to say something and then finally lifts her head.

"You won't like what I am going to tell you," Lara says in all honesty and starts to feel the need for water more, tongue is dry in her mouth.

"I'm sure that there will be plenty of discontent by the end of the day Lady Croft, you slept for quite a while I might add, you must have overexerted yourself these past few days. My men caught you late morning, it is now early evening," Yarinhov says as he kneels in front of her. Inside of a tent, he had a steel pole put in after she was caught to ensure she wouldn't be able to escape, tired of people chaining a person to a pipe, tying them to a tree when they always find a way of getting away.

He looks at Lara closely, staring at her blindfold, the dirt that still sits in her hair, on her face, some scrapes on her arms, and the way she is holding herself. She isn't slumped; she doesn't have her back against the pole to pull away from him. Lara's back is straight, her arms firm and her head tilted up to his, even with no view of who she has in front of her she is defiant and holds strong. _She's going to be an interesting specimen to work with_ he reaches his right hand around to the back of her head and touches the base of her pony tail, she jerks her head but away from him and he grins.

Looking to his left to see a couple of his soldiers staring at them, they're standing in front of a laptop that is sitting on top of a steel table, trying to get a signal with the satellite on top of the tent. "Leave and have no one interfere," Yarinhov instructs and Lara listens to the footsteps move from her right and walk out behind the man before her.

Turning his attention back to her he grins wickedly, "water?" he stands up and walks to a 36 pack of bottled water, Lara listens to his movement and hears plastic being moved and a liquid.

"No, thank you," Lara says bitterly for him to chuckle which doesn't surprise her in the least.

"Come now Lady Croft, I intend you no harm presently, I need you alive to tell me where the Wings of Darkness are, and then I'll be on my way. I know your mouth must be dry, it was humid today but I kept you in the cool, dry tent, I know you are parched," he walks over to her and opens a fresh bottle of water, "please, indulge yourself," he places the rim of the bottle to her dry lips.

The moisture within the bottle beckons to her, tongue feeling like sandpaper, and her head still pounding, she lifts her head and parts her lips. The cool water fills her mouth, her head screaming to spit it out but her body is screaming just as loud to swallow, "come on Croft, we're killing daylight here," Yarinhov pushes and finally she gives in, taking a sip and her body wanting to chug.

Without realizing it, Lara swallowed the contents of the bottle in a matter of seconds, Yarinhov chuckles as she takes some deep breaths and straightens her back to compose herself again. "The Wings of Darkness have been destroyed," Lara confesses and all is quiet, Yarinhov's thinking it over, he has no reason to believe her, no reason to fear that what she has said is true.

Reaching to his left thigh pocket he pulls out a cigar and holds it between his middle and thumb fingers, "what makes you think I'm going to believe you?" he pulls out a match and lights it, she doesn't flinch but he watches as the glow of the flame illuminates her masked eyes. Smiling to himself before placing the flame to the end and drawing on the other end before blowing the smoke out. "I've got all the time in the world, no schedule to keep… it's just you and I here," he places the cigar between his lips and reaches for the base of her pony tail, this time grabbing it right away.

In a swift motion he yanks her to her feet by her hair, she let out an involuntary yelp as he did so and he holds the back of her head against the pole, holding her hair firm. "Where is it?" he asks coolly, watching her grimace.

Choosing to stay silent this time, but her heart is starting to beat faster at the accelerating danger she is getting into, her fingers feel around the pole and she gives a try and pulling on it. _It's firm but if I can get him distracted I can try harder to pull it out_ she thinks as he pulls the cigar out from his lips and with his pinky he places it under the rim of the cloth for her right eye.

The blindfold is lifted easily; Lara opens her eyes to stare into his piercing blue eyes that are boring into hers, "defiant… I've already read the report on your first torture session. I know what'll make you tick in the end," he leans his face closer, his nose nearly touching hers, "shall we end the pleasantries?" In his field of vision he can just make out her chest rising and falling, but her eyes are not showing any fear.

In a quick motion Lara slams her right knee into his inner thigh, just missing her mark, he staggers back two feet and she pulls as hard as she can on the pole. Once he sees this he starts barking out a hearty laugh, "yes… Lady Croft," he grins as he steps up to her, seeing a flash of fear in her eyes when she realized there is no pulling this pole from the ground and his advance on her.

Yarinhov walks around behind her, grabs her hair again to keep her in place and cuts the zip tie that has her wrists bound, she turns to try and punch him but he grabs her wrist before pulling her in quick to slam his forehead into hers. The impact of his head combined with the hit from earlier make her stagger back and clutch her forehead, blood starts to drip down the side of her head by her right eye as he grabs for her left wrist and twists it hard making her groan.

Turning her to face the tent exit, they walk out, her arm pinned painfully against her upper back. Right away met with the woods, the sun is about to start setting as he pushes her along the path that she and Liam had taken earlier from the cliff edge.

Her heels finding the rock ground before coming to the ledge she had climbed onto earlier, he then turns her to view the village. A couple of people are walking about between the huts, her heart starts racing and her eyes search for anyone else, what she is unable to see is Yarinhov signaling for something.

Forced to turn around her eyes widen at the sight of Tahir's father being pushed forward and Yarinhov pulls a gun from his hip holster, the father being pushed to his knees on the rock. Her heart skips a beat; she tries as hard as she can to wrench her arm free of his grip but Yarinhov holds her firm and kicks out the back of her right knee to force her to kneel in front of the older man. He points his gun at first at Lara's head in an effort to stop her from struggling, but he loosens his grip too much and she breaks free to shoulder him with all her might into the rock wall behind him.

Yarinhov staggers back and Tahir's father watches in shock, the soldier who brought him still stands just behind him and he doesn't budge. His rifle trained on the older man's head. He watches as Lara attempts to punch Yarinhov again but he grabs her fist before backhanding her hard in the face.

Lara hits the cold rock ground hard, her head spinning with doubled vision as she looks out at the village while lying on her stomach, groaning she feels Yarinhov's rough hand grab her right bicep and yank her to sit on her knees again. He places the nozzle of the gun to her head again, "where are the Wings of Darkness? If you fight me again this old man will pay the price with his life," Yarinhov says firmly.

Lifting her head, Lara looks at Tahir's father; she can see fear and curiosity in his eyes, wondering if she found the wings and what she did with them. There's no way for him to know that Lara isn't working with Yarinhov, all that is happening could look like an act in his eyes. Lara however feels dread building up within her gut, seeing the gun pointed at his head she knows that the older man isn't going to survive the night unless Liam or someone else intervenes.

Keeping her breathing steady she looks up at Yarinhov, "I told you, I broke them and I have no idea where the pieces are," Lara says honestly and listens to him cock the gun next to the older man's head. Feeling desperation setting in, her throat seizing up, staring into fearful eyes directly ahead of her, "I'm telling you the truth! I didn't want a village, town or city to get slaughtered by the Wings of Darkness so I broke them to keep you from using them!" she wants to stand up and push him away, to stop the needless death, she looks up at Yarinhov pleadingly.

He sighs and looks at his soldier, "the good news is… I believe you," he looks back at Lara and their eyes connect, "but your actions have cost this man his life."

Lara's eyes widen and she looks at Tahir's father, he is putting on a brave face, fear is in his eyes but his face is a mask. "Thank-" is his last word before the soldier fires his rifle into his head.

Clenching her fists, Lara looks up at Yarinhov and he is looking at his soldier, "next phase," and the soldier walks away, she stands up but before she can attempt anything he points his gun at her head. "There is still the other matter, where are the pieces of the Wings?"

Breathing heavily and body trembling in anger, Lara stares him in the eye, "I don't know," she says lowly, wanting to punch him in the jaw. "You and I both know you're not going to shoot me," Lara says straight forward, and he smirks as footsteps approach, he tilts the gun up at the sky as the sun has almost finished setting behind her.

Placing his cigar between his teeth he nods, "you are correct, for the time being you are of use, however _they_ aren't," Yarinhov says before taking a long drag and Lara turns to see two soldiers standing near the cliff edge.

Eyes widening as she takes in the grenade launcher sitting on their right shoulder, both facing the village down below, her heart hammers against her ribs, palms are sweating, she turns to Yarinhov. "Don't do this," she gestures behind her to the village they have their sights on, standing defiantly but also in fear and he holsters his gun before placing his left hand onto her right shoulder and pointing his right index finger at the villagers.

"This is your doing, if you do not tell me where the pieces of the Wings of Darkness are I will blow that village up," Yarinhov says sternly, his eyes fierce with intent, he is done playing games and wants her to know how far he is willing to go to get what he wants. "Where are they?"

Lara takes a deep shuddering breath, looking out at the village; her eyes slowly turn to the rock ground before her _I hope you are close by Liam… we need to stop this man before this gets completely out of hand, I am outmatched in every way here. Even if I were to jump down and run to the village, I'll be too late and I'll just injure myself further… I need to stop him here if I can_ she looks up at him. "You're with Trinity, aren't you?" she asks and he smirks.

"Commander Vincent Yarinhov with Trinity… trying to stall for time? Very well you have till the count of five to tell me what I want to know," Yarinhov instructs and grins wickedly, "one…"

Lara's chest starts to heave faster, her eyes darting back and forth, finally her shoulders slump some, "my partner Liam has the pieces, but I have no idea where he is," she answers and Yarinhov gives a small shrug.

"Two…" Yarinhov says and her breath hitches.

Looking at him and gesturing at the village below, "I told you what I know! I've been stuck with you for hours! You can't possibly expect me to know where my partner is at this precise moment!" Lara says, feeling outraged and fearful for the people's whose lives are in her hands.

"Three…" Yarinhov lets the number roll off his tongue with ease, enjoying watching her scramble.

Standing in front of him defiantly, "those are innocent people down there! I answered your question, now leave them alone!"

Taking a step towards her as he removes his cigar and exhales before going nearly nose to nose with her, "infants are innocent," he grabs her shoulders and forces her to turn and face the village. "Those people are not innocent," he points with his right index finger at the village with one person going into a hut on the left near the center of the village. "You want technicalities on innocents? Cities, towns and villages are filled with it, whether it is a nanny saving up money for her college tuition or a senior watching Golden Girls reruns in a retirement home, to a man hunting in the forest to put food on the table… everyone has something about them Lara that has stripped them of their innocents." She can hear his smile in his voice as he speaks, "five."

Her eyes shoot wide and she darts to the edge and he grabs both of her biceps holding her back from jumping, she pulls and kicks as hard as she can to get free, "RUN! GET OUT OF THERE!" Lara screams, behind her Yarinhov gives the nod to the soldiers. Just as the last person she saw comes stepping out of their hut, she listens to the weapons fire next to her, and the person looks on like a deer looking at headlights. "RUN!" Lara bellows while she pulls as hard as she can, digging the toes of her boots into the rock and two of the huts are struck with neighbouring huts catching fire.

The person she saw who'd come out, ran back into their hut, not yet on fire and she watches with baited breath as the person comes out with two children. Lara watches her line of sight, feels her eyes land on her, and finally the three run up the small dirt road. Others come out coughing and screaming, her fists are clenched tightly as the sun has set and the fires blazing below are lighting the sky, the glow of the flames dancing on the small group on the rock ledge.

Standing up, the two soldiers walk back to their respective places at camp, Lara watches on, falling to her knees in dismay _I saved that one family… and a handful of others yesterday… at least I hope I did… I hope Yarinhov didn't send his people there to slaughter anyone else. If I didn't pursue the Wings of Darkness none of this would have happened!_ She feels him release her arms finally and she looks down at the cold rock ground before her. _I need to make things right!_ Looking around cautiously she spots his left calf and sees a military saw edge knife in its holster there.

Taking a deep breath Lara turns and grabs the handle with her right hand while her left hand stabilizes her, she feels his beefy hand grab her left shoulder while she yanks out the knife. In a swift motion he strikes her hard across the ribs with his right leg, the force knocking her into the air and once hitting the ground she rolls once to a stop.

Coughing and gasping as he left arm goes across her chest, looking up at him as her bangs dangle into her vision. The flashing embers of the fire below dance all over his body, giving him a menacing and intimidating look as he flexes his fists. Lara clenches the blade in her hand tightly as she stands up, staring him in the eye defiantly, and her body poised, but in all honesty she has no proper training with a knife for hand to hand combat.

Taking a step to advance in her attack at him, holding the blade to be pointing down and away from her, a small cloud of black smoke wafts over them both making her eyes sting as she brings the knife up to stab. However he grabs her forearm, pulls it away from him, to her far right and moves in to use his free arm to backhand her in the jaw. The sudden sharp sting causes her to let go of the knife.

Clattering to the ground, but she manages to strike her left knee up to catch him in the lower ribs, he bends over partially. He did not expect her to sneak a shot in, when his eyes land on her his chin shoots up as her right fist smacked right into his under jaw. Yarinhov takes a couple of steps back, tasting copper as he regains himself, discovering the tip of his tongue is throbbing from having bit it when she gave him an upper cut.

Rubbing his jaw he grins at her as he wets his lips, his tongue lining his lower lip with blood, "oooh… feisty," his grin grows wicked, he watches her move into a fighting stance. His fists rose, "you sure you want to dance with me young lady?"

Lara glares at him, taking a breath before another cloud of smoke wafts over them both again, this time she was ready and she gives it a beat before moving in. He takes her by surprise, his right heel slamming hard into her ribs, the force knocking her onto her back, groaning as she props herself up onto her elbows.

Looking up at him as he towers over her, the shadow of her head dancing on his legs but the fire is dying down, she feels her left elbow touch the edge of the cliff. A chip of rock gives way under her, making Lara jerk to look behind and below _oh shit… oh shit-oh shit-oh shit!_ Looking back up at Yarinhov in alarm, he grins, standing at her feet. "Nothing special about you Croft… all that hype," he mutters.

Her heart is pounding against her chest, wishing her back was against a wall and not at a dead drop to a certain death, in the corner of her eye she sees a set of feet approaching him from behind. "You know what they say about hype?" Lara asks and he raises his right brow, wanting to keep him distracted in case if it's someone who can help her. "People tend to build things up to more than they are."

Yarinhov gives her a thoughtful look before his head jerks forward, his eyes opening wide, he staggers forward and Lara rolls out of his path to stand up quickly. He goes onto the tips of his toes to try and regain his balance to stop from falling; dust and rock tumbling off the edge in the effort. She sees blood on the back of his bald head. Her adrenaline pumping through her, she pulls her right arm to her chest before slamming her right shoulder into the middle of his back, his arms flail around as he turns halfway around just as he's falling off. His eyes locking with hers, time seeming to slow down as he looks on in shock, fingers grasping for anything to grab, her, the edge, a vine, anything but his angle making it impossible. Shock turns to anger as his eyes bore into hers before his face vanishes beyond the edge and his body plummets to the bottom.

Watching him fall, her heart swells up in her chest, seeing a cloud of dirt appear where he landed and a pool of dark liquid, what she knows to be blood, is framing his still body. She lets out a slow breath, "I take no pleasure in this," turning around to see Liam standing there with a large rock in his hands.

Liam walks over to her, dropping the rock with a group of villagers walking up from where she'd come from earlier, "I know it wasn't ideal, but it was either him or you," he reminds her and turns to the group behind him.

Among the faces, Lara is saddened to see Tahir is with them, he steps up to her and places a hand onto her shoulder, his eyes are sad as he looks into hers. "I know… we were just above, making our way down. I saw everything," he pulls her close to him, looking into her eyes. "You did everything you could to save my people and my father," he places his right hand onto his chest, "even I was too far away to do anything," tears brim his eyes at his own memories.

* * *

 _"Quietly… quietly," Liam ushers and Tahir looks over his shoulder at him, the group are all crouched low to the very steep ground that is winding down to the camp in the trees._

 _"You think this is our first time sneaking up on prey?" Tahir whispers, making Liam smile at his comment, his hand reach up to a tree branch._

 _Fingers wrapping around the rough texture, his other hand on the ground behind him, fingers just touching the cold hard dirt and gathering up under his finger nails as he parks his right heel at a rock lodged in the ground._

 _Liam did his job during the day, waiting in the trees for as long as he was willing and creeping out to go around the mountain base where he swam in the still lake that the waterfall's stream led to. After a couple of hours of trekking, he'd made it to the village where the people had gone to for safety, thankfully Frutana Corp hadn't come there. Yet._

 _He found Tahir within minutes and showed him the broken Wings of Darkness, this visibly lifted a great weight from his shoulders, but he still held fear in his slender body frame. He told Liam about his father getting grabbed in the night for rebelling too loudly, so Liam devised a plan to get both Lara and his father back. Circling around the mountain, being sure to stay away from Frutana Corp soldiers who're watching over everything and they climbed. The group climbed up much higher than Lara and Liam had to get above the group that were threatening so many lives, and finally sitting in the bush above the cliff edge and making their way to the camps._

 _Looking over at the cliff edge he sees Lara is below them, as much as he wants to jump down and take down Yarinhov, he knows he'll be quickly over powered by the rest of his men. She is answering his question about the wings and in the corner of Liam's eye he can see Tahir is fidgeting, scooting over next to him._

 _"I'm telling you the truth! I didn't want a village, town or city to get slaughtered by the Wings of Darkness so I broke them to keep you from using them!" he watches her plead her case to Yarinhov pleadingly_

 _Hearing Tahir shifting to pounce, Liam moves quickly to shove his chest to the ground, the young man squirms under his grasp and Liam is forced to twist his arm behind his back. "You can't," Liam whispers and Tahir looks over his shoulder at Liam._

 _"You can't, but I can! I can't just let him get killed down there!" Tahir whispers back and works to free himself making Liam wrap his arms around his biceps and his body on top of his to stop him from moving so much._

 _"The good news is… I believe you," Yarinhov looks back at Lara and their eyes connect, Tahir looks on in hope, he knows that Lara is doing her best but he hates it that Liam weighs more than he does and is effectively holding him in place. His heart is pounding in his ears, straining to hear and hoping against hope that this will all turn around, "but your actions have cost this man his life."_

 _"N-" Tahir's mouth is covered by Liam who is looking at the other villagers, gesturing for them to keep moving down the keep climb to the soldiers, his eyes back on the young villager._

 _"If you jump out there now then you will also die, he won't hesitate and he'll kill your father in front of you or kill you in front of your father," Liam said hurriedly. His eye brows knit together as he stares at the eyes of the young man. His pleading eyes, the way his body is still trying to worm free of him, "do you want to give up our mission to free your people from slaughter?"_

 _"Thank-" Liam cringes at the sound of the bang, and Tahir looks crestfallen, he watches it all play out and clenches his fists under his abdomen._

 _Liam looks down at the cliff ledge, watching as soldiers come out with the weapons and feels Tahir grow rigid, "this has to stop," Tahir whispers, seeing that things are indeed only about to get worse._

 _"Then let's move," Liam ushers, letting go of Tahir and watching the young man go back to moving down the steep hill. As the tent tops get into view he can hear Lara screaming for the villagers to run, the soldiers who are at camp are distracted by her cries._

 _Coming to a giant boulder that is partially sticking out of the dirt ground he can see that villagers have moved around the tents, trees, bushes, and they're looking up as he hops down and keeps himself lowered. In the corner of his eye he hears the bangs of destruction on Tahir's village followed by the glow of the flames just over the tree tops._

 _Moving stealthy behind some soldiers, his hands open and keeping his breathing controlled, he doesn't care how distracted they are, any snap of a twig will have them firing bullets in seconds. His eyes are straining in the dark as the two soldiers come back, they move into the main tent to set the now empty guns down and glances at everyone else. Nodding firmly he stands up, grabbing an older man's short white head and snapping his neck._

* * *

Standing in the airfield, Lara listens to the sound of the plane pulling in as she looks at the group of villagers that helped fight, Liam is handed the bag with the broken wings by Tahir. The glow of the flames are no more, the only light now is coming from the moon which is perfectly illuminating the run way.

"I'm sorry for the trouble these wings have caused you," Lara says and Tahir nods to her solemnly.

"It's not for you to apologize, someone put Eli Drachir up to it, he didn't realize the kind of people who were after it," he gives her s soft smile, to try and assure her. "If it wasn't for you, they'd still be harassing my people and according to your friend Liam, executing villagers till they got the information we gave you. You also helped a couple of families with your yelling for them to run," he extends his hand and gives her hand a firm shake. "Thank you."

Lara returns his firm hand shake, still feeling guilty deep down for not being able to help save his father and knowing he witnessed his death didn't make her feel any better. _Death seems to follow on these adventures of mine, but now that the Wings of Darkness are destroyed I'm ready to slow everything down._

"May your future be as bright as your heart," Lara says softly, making Tahir smile at her as their hands drop to their sides.

Stepping onto the plane, in a matter of a couple of minutes they both seated, the plane is turned around and is taking off down the laneway. The faces of the villagers looking at her through the window are still fresh in her mind, _relief_ is what she saw, and yes they've lost people very close to them and some buildings. However now the threat is gone, they can rebuild and look to the future once again.

The plane isn't posh but it still has the nice perks of a fridge and phone, Lara looks across at Liam as the plane continues to climb and she takes the phone that is next to her. Cradling it in her hands as a flash of lightning illuminates the plane for a moment through the four windows the passengers have.

For the first time since they've been reunited, Lara sees how ragged and worn out Liam looks with his freshly forming beard, scruffy hair, dirty and torn of shirt, pants and the scrapes and bruises forming on his arms and face. Her eyes travel along each one all the way up to his face, his own attention is out the window with the bag of broken wings sitting between his feet and hers, shifting a bit at the incline.

Finally his eyes move over to her and he turns his head, "something on your mind?" Liam asks and Lara's mind goes back to his story about running into the other village.

"You never said how you got a hold of a ride for us to get out of there," Lara answers, realizing for the first time that she is a little surprised he never divulged the information. But she understands that a lot had just happened and he probably didn't want to go over every little detail.

Smiling a little, he gives a light chuckle, "oh yeah… that was fun," he sits up and straightens himself out a little, placing his elbows onto the arm resters. "The chief of that village had a satellite phone, I had to call up your friend Roger a few times, he didn't answer, didn't answer and finally picks up starting off with," he changes his voice to try and match Rogers. " 'I don't care what it is you are wanting to sell me, no I don't want ice from Finland, my ducts do not need cleaning, I have no need for my windows or doors to be replaced and I am very happy with my phone plan' so I quickly say in as professional a voice I can muster 'will you take a collect call from the Lady Croft?' and there was a pause," he smiles widely at Lara as she starts to smile. "So he answers with 'That… I will take, fill me in Liam' so I told him the gist of what had all happened. He apologized for not being our pilot this time as he is currently in Japan, but he pulled in a favour to have a plane sent to us as quickly as possible and that the pilot would come armed in case if my plan fell through," he opens his hands. "Pretty good?"

Lara chuckles and rubs the back of her neck with her right hand, still holding the phone in her left hand, "you couldn't have asked for a shower to come equipped?" she asks pointedly and Liam winces.

"Crap… I knew I was forgetting a luxury you'd be hoping for," he mocks touching his chest with his right hand. "But I did request for that phone so you could call Sophia," Liam smiles warmly and Lara blushes as another flash of lightning fills their space.

Looking down at the phone, Lara's finger tips graze over the plastic numbers that she knows off by heart, feeling butterflies in her stomach at just the thought of hearing Sophia's voice. She dials the number as the plane levels out and Liam stands up to go to the fridge, pulling out some food and coming back with an armful which causes Lara's eyebrows to shoot up to her hairline.

He takes a bite of a BLT and looks at her, looking down at his little pile up as she places the phone to her ear he hands her an egg salad sandwich.

"Sorry dear, you've got me," comes Jackie's voice to her ear, Lara's face falls half way, but she keeps her voice chipper.

"How're you doing?" Lara asks and Jackie laughs merrily on the other side.

"Don't you mean 'what is Sophia up to that she cannot be answering my call'? I am doing very well," Lara can hear the smile in her voice as she talks and can't help smiling to herself.

"Well… that too, it's been a long few days," Lara says and listens to Jackie give a small sigh as the plane gives a shake and more lightning flashes through the plane. The phone starts to have some static.

"Are you up in the air dear?" Jackie asks and Lara looks out the window to see the clouds being lit up by the lightning.

"Yes and we're going through a storm," Lara says, dropping the sandwich and gripping the arm to her chair as the plane rattles again, she picks up on the static some more.

"Sophia is working with a bunch of the young lings, when will you be home?" Jackie asks and Lara looks at her wrist watch for the first time since her morning episode.

"I believe 3-4 hours, I could be mistaken though," Lara answers as the plane lights start flickering, she looks at Liam, he is just watching the storm outside with a smile, clearly fascinated.

"Alright, I'll pass it onto Sophia that she can expect to hear back from you around then, take care of yourself, you hear? I'll be thinking about you," Jackie says and Lara smiles a bit, missing the company of the older woman.

"Thank you Jackie and I'll do my best," and with that the line went dead, Lara looks at Liam quizzically. "How are you not worried?" Lara asks as she takes a bite out of her sandwich finally and sees a red Gatorade in his left outstretched hand for her.

"I've had my share of bad luck in the air, this is nothing, and I enjoy watching storms," Liam answers as Lara takes the drink of out his hand.

Raising her right brow at him as she twists the lid off, "are you sure you are safe to fly with during a storm then?" she asks skeptically, he snickers and looks at her in the corner of his eye.

"Only one way to find out."

To Be Continued…

* * *

What did you think? What is going to happen next? Predictions? I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


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